A 24-year-old babysitter has been arrested and charged with risk of injury to a child, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment after allegedly abandoning an 8-month-old girl that she had been watching in the dumpster at an apartment complex on October 12.
According to the WTNH, Andiana Valez had stabbed the baby's 21-year-old mother with a kitchen knife earlier in the day at a gas station. The mother's condition was not disclosed.
After the infant was recovered form the trash bin at approximately 2 pm, she was described as "Basically coming out of shock, you can tell she was freezing, freezing in that trash can," by Rick Chardon, the maintenance worker at the apartment complex that retrieved the child after another resident made the discovery.
The infant was taken to Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital where she was initially listed in stable condition. On October 20 she was released from the hospital into the care of family members.
What has not been determined at this time is how she received the burn injuries to her hands in the first place. The Department of Children and Families are said to still be investigating the matter in partnership with the New Haven Police Department.
Velez is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond and is due to be back in court on October 30.