Oscar Astorga: 'Grandfather' of baby thrown into dumpster says child's dad is 16, seeks custody
As the case of the New Mexico baby being tossed into a dumpster by a teen mom continues to shock people, a man has come forward to claim that his 16-year-old son is the father of the child. Oscar Astorga's family has hired a lawyer to help them get custody of the infant, who is currently in the care of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas.
Astorga, 50, said his son Stephen, 16, had no idea that his ex-girlfriend Alexis Avila, 18, was pregnant with his child and gave birth last week. The incident came into light after the teen mom was caught on camera tossing her child into a dumpster behind a shopping center in Hobbs, New Mexico.
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Text messages exchanged between Stephen and his friend show that he believed his ex-girlfriend had miscarried and had no idea he was to become a father until she was arrested for dumping the baby. Stephen and Alexis Avila broke up in August 2021.
Astorga that his family wants custody of his son's child. He told in an interview with DailyMail, "Of course we're trying to get custody." He also said the news of the baby had come as a huge shock to him and his family has even received death threats on social media. He added, "There's a lot of people on social media that have been sending death threats to our family. We haven't done anything wrong."
Meanwhile, Avila told cops that she had no idea she was pregnant and only realized it when she started getting abdominal pains. She claims that she panicked, so after giving birth, she wrapped her infant son in a towel and tossed the baby in a dumpster. The baby, who has been named Saul by the Astorga family, was discovered five hours later by dumpster divers. One of the rescuers, April Meadow, wrapped the baby in her coat and told a 911 dispatch operator that the baby was 'freezing cold'. The infant was immediately taken to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, where the doctors assessed that the baby had hypothermia. The newborn baby was given blood transfusion and put on a feeding tube and oxygen. The police said that at present, the baby is in a stable condition.
Avila's mother, Martha, 47, defended her daughter and said, "People can talk and give their opinion. Everybody makes mistakes. People can preach all they want, they can judge all they want but we only care about the judgment of one." Martha claims she had no idea her daughter was pregnant and added that the news of the birth of the baby came as a shock to her.
Some of Avila's classmates at school claimed that the teen mom was "open about her pregnancy". One of the classmates said, "I heard her talk about being pregnant around late September, early October." She added, "she never expressed that it was a bad thing that she was pregnant."
Avila reportedly dropped out of high school on December 17. After the CCTV footage evidence, Avila has been charged with attempted murder and a felony count of child abuse and will appear in court on Wednesday, January 12 for a detention hearing.