Lillian Alvarado Killed Newborn Son In Bathtub, Faces Murder Charge: Police

A Washington, D.C., mother has been charged with murder in the killing of her newborn son.

Lillian Alvarado, 21, faces charges of first-degree murder and cruelty to children after police said she allegedly asphyxiated and dismembered her newborn son in the bathtub of her apartment.

Alvarado was arrested Thursday for the incident, which took place on Thanksgiving, according to D.C. Metro Police.

Residents said they saw bloody water dripping from the ceiling, according to WRC. Police found Alvarado in the bathroom of the apartment with the newborn in a gruesome scene described in a police report.

Alvarado tried to dispose of the body, the station reported. Scissors and knives were found at the scene.

Alvarado had told her father that the baby was born dead, but a medical examiner's report determined that the boy had been alive, according to the Washington Post.

The suspect's father said that he hadn't known his daughter was pregnant, and that she has a history of mental illness. According to the Washington Post:

“She has mental disturbances sometimes, and when that happens, she doesn’t talk,” the father said in Spanish. “She goes out of her mind. The doctors diagnosed her with a sickness.”

Alvarado also has a 2-year-old daughter.