Sanitation workers discover dead newborn boy inside Houston trash compactor

A newborn baby boy was discovered inside a trash compactor by sanitation workers in Houston, authorities said.

Waste collection workers were servicing a residential neighborhood in northwest Houston when they "discovered what appears to be a deceased newborn male infant amongst the collected trash waste," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a post on X Wednesday morning.

Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office were alerted of "sanitation technicians finding what they believe to be a infant baby in the back of a trash compactor inside the truck" around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Gonzalez said, speaking to the media.

The baby's body was discovered when the workers stopped to compact the trash after they had done collections over several streets, Gonzalez said.

Authorities arrived on scene to find the infant, believed to be between one and 30 days old, inside the bottom of the trash compactor, Gonzalez said. The sheriff said the child was not a miscarriage and appeared to be full term. It is not clear how long the child had been dead before it was discovered.

Investigation ongoing

An investigation into the incident is ongoing and the sheriff said investigators were canvassing the area to collect surveillance videos and talk to potential witnesses as they attempt to develop a timeline to understand who may have left the baby there.

The sheriff added investigators will be "knocking on probably every door out here until we can hopefully get some leads from that." The truck, meanwhile, was moved to a secure location and Gonzalez said all items in it would be inspected for leads.

Gonzalez said the sheriff's office was waiting for the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of the newborn's death.

"We're waiting for the medical examiner's office to come out and do their investigation," Gonzalez said. "We're going to be combing through the trash of the truck to try to get some clues as to where this trash may have originated from with the baby and then kind of go from there."

Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland, in an update Thursday, said the "Institute of Forensic Science has collected the infant and an autopsy will be conducted to determine cause and manner of death."

Moses Law

Gonzalez stressed that a Moses Law is in effect, under which a child 60 days old or younger can be dropped off to any fire station or hospital without any questions asked if you unable to manage or care for it.

"We're asking anybody out there if you're in that type of situation to please do that," Gonzalez said.

Authorities have requested anyone with information on the incident to contact HCSO's Homicide Division at 713-274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.