Greeley, Colorado: The Weld County District Attorney's Office announced on Friday, June 10, that charges had been filed against the teen mother of a newborn that was found on Wednesday, June 8, with stab wounds to her body.
According to the statement, Leiyla Cepeda was visiting from Texas and was 17 when she gave birth to the child. She has since turned 18 and she is being charged as an adult.
She has been charged with two counts of murder.
The DA states that she has been hospitalized since Wednesday and that she is in custody at the local hospital. A court date will be set once she is discharged.
Citing the affidavit, Law and Crime detailed that Cepeda's mother, Ledesma, said that her daughter was not the type to hurt a child. She said that her daughter questioned how mothers could abandon their children saying she loved children and even helped with the kids at church.
"Ledesma stated Cepeda was just in a dace and she didn't feel like she comprehended what happened," the affidavit read.
Cepeda has given conflicting statements to law enforcement and medical personnel explaining both, that she knew or suspected that she was pregnant and also that she didn't know she was pregnant.
Cepeda alleged that she thought the child was dead at birth and claimed that she "never felt the baby moving in her stomach."
Dr. Michael Burson, the Weld County Coroner, stated that in his "medical opinion" the child was born alive and died from "multiple sharp force injuries."