Jury Hears Defendant Linked to Slain Baby

When investigators found the body of a newborn boy in a trash bin on March 16, 1996, it was among several discarded items in a plastic shopping bag.

Other items in the bag, prosecutors told a jury Tuesday, link the baby directly to Teresa Sanchez, 22, who is on trial in Orange County Superior Court for the murder of the unnamed baby, whose body was found behind her Santa Ana apartment building.

Medical examiners determined that the child was born on March 15 and was a healthy, seven-pound infant who lived for only an hour before being suffocated.

Sanchez’s attorney said he would prove her innocence by bringing Natividad Sanchez to the witness stand. Sanchez, who is no relation to the defendant, will testify that he saw another woman leaving the trash bin the morning he found the child there, the attorney told jurors.

Much of the trial will focus on the character of Teresa Sanchez, who is the mother of a young boy. Defense attorney Bob Knox said he would show that Sanchez dotes on her son, Mario, and was a conscientious employee at the Tustin motel where she worked as a maid.

Prosecutors, however, plan to paint a portrait of a young woman engaged in months of deceit.

Teresa Sanchez lied about her pregnancy from the beginning, prosecutors said. She lied to neighbors and her employer when they asked if she was expecting another child. Her response was that she was just gaining weight.