A mum has been arrested on suspicion of decapitating her newborn baby and leaving her in a rubbish bin.
The little girl was born alive and was just five days old when she was killed.
Her body was found dismembered in plastic bags in a recycling plant in the village of Loeches on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, last December.
Officers arrested an Ecuadorian woman believed to be the baby’s mother today, the Spanish news outlet En boca de todos reported.
The suspect has not been named but has been described as a married woman with children.
En boca de todos reported earlier that she was not in custody as she remains at her home while officers search it.
Her house in the working-class Madrid neighbourhood of Vallecas is being searched by officers.
The child she is accused of killing was discovered by a worker at the recycling plant on December 12, 2024.
Investigators believe she was almost certainly killed with a knife and then dumped in garbage bags.
Officers had been working on the theory that the baby’s remains reached the plant’s waste bins after being thrown into a container in the Vallecas neighbourhood close to the M-30 motorway.
A sniffer dog called Dylan, specialised in detecting biological remains, also took part in the investigations at the waste plant.
DNA tests on the newborn’s dead body revealed that she was of Latin American origin.
The Civil Guard, as part of Operation Natal, last week asked for the public’s help in identifying a woman they estimated to be aged around 40 who had been pregnant during the last months of last year.
A police spokesman said at the time: “’From the investigations carried out so far, it has been possible to determine that the remains would correspond to a female baby and that she was born alive.
‘There are indications that would point to her death being of a violent nature.
‘We are seeking the public’s help in clarifying this criminal act and asking anyone who could have any information of interest to contact us.’
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