Tragedy

 

Baby boy whose body was discovered at a waste recycling center laid to rest

By Dave Andrusko

Nidia Yolibeth Alvarado

Even in an era of virtually instantaneous communication, sometimes you don’t hear about an event of significance until the next day.

A baby boy, who was discovered dead three months ago at a San Antonia-area recycling center, was laid to rest on Monday.
The baby who came to be named Noel, was thought to be a few days old. He was found two days before Christmas stuffed in a blue duffel bag on the intake conveyor belt of a Waste Management recycling center in San Antonio, Texas.
Bail for his mother, Nidia Yolibeth Alvarado, 25, was set at $2 million. Alvarado told investigators that she threw Noel’s body into a dumpster at her apartment building, according to local station KWTX.

“Waste Management spokeswoman Lisa Doughty says an employee working at the beginning of the sorting line found the body just before 1 p.m. on Monday Dec. 23. The facility immediately stopped operations at that time and police were called, she said.”

Police Sergeant Javier Salazar told reporters, “It’s believed that the suspect gave birth to that baby boy, and shortly thereafter murdered him by strangulation.” KWTX also reported that staff at the hospital where Alvarado gave birth under an assumed name helped authorities link her to the murder.
But Monday was about not allowing Noel’s life to go unrecognized. Television station KHOU reported, “After months of legal battles, a judge ordered Noel’s body to be released to those who want to bury him.”

At that point, the audience heard from Pamela Allen, a local businesswoman, who had raised funds to pay for funeral arrangements. She said,

“This is not how this story is going to end. I’m going to make sure and change a page on this child’s story. And that page is going to have my signature on it. All those people who called in, all those people who wanted a better outcome for Noel, they’re finally going to get to see that. And I’m ecstatic over that.”

Baby Noel was laid to rest at the Chapel Hill Funeral Home.

Alvarado remains jailed on murder charges.