Police say the hours-old boy was uncovered in the rain with his umbilical cord attached when a resident found him in May 2025.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A 26-year-old Riverside woman has been arrested more than a year after an hours-old newborn was found crying beside a dumpster at an apartment complex, exposed to rain with his umbilical cord still attached, according to police.

Astrid Nohemi Lopez Ramos was arrested Sept. 17 on suspicion of child endangerment after detectives identified her as the child’s mother, the Riverside Police Department said. She was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center with bail set at $35,000. Law&Crime later reported that she had been charged with one count of child endangerment and was no longer in custody as of Sept. 29. Her next reported court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2027, at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The allegations against Ramos have not been adjudicated, and police have not publicly explained how investigators came to identify her.

The arrest followed an investigation that stretched for more than a year. Police said detectives assigned to the department’s Sexual Assault/Child Abuse unit worked the case after the newborn was discovered May 4, 2025. The department announced Ramos’ arrest Sept. 25 but released few details about the investigative steps that led to her. Authorities have not disclosed whether DNA evidence, witness information, records or another method played a role. The department also has not publicly described the circumstances surrounding the child’s birth or said where investigators believe the delivery took place.

The case began about 2:30 p.m. that Sunday when Riverside’s Public Safety Communications Center received reports of a baby crying inside a dumpster enclosure at an apartment complex in the 3800 block of Jackson Street. By the time officers arrived, a resident had found the infant. Police said the baby was lying next to a dumpster rather than inside it when officers reached the scene. He was breathing and crying, and his umbilical cord remained attached. He had been left uncovered while rain was falling.

Paramedics provided immediate medical care and transported the newborn to a nearby hospital. Investigators believed he had been born only a few hours before he was found. Early reporting said the boy was in stable condition after the rescue. Law&Crime later reported that he was in the custody of Child Protective Services. The Los Angeles Times reported when the arrest was announced that the child’s then-current condition was not immediately clear. Police have not publicly released the child’s name, and the department’s September arrest announcement did not provide a new medical update.

The discovery left investigators with two separate concerns: the immediate welfare of a newborn who had been exposed outdoors and the question of who had given birth to him. The first was addressed by the resident who found the child and the emergency crews who took him to a hospital. The second became a much longer investigation. Police said only that detectives eventually identified Ramos as the mother after working the case over the following year. Their announcement did not identify witnesses, describe forensic testing or provide a detailed chronology between the May 2025 discovery and the September 2026 arrest.

The department used the arrest announcement to point residents to California’s Safely Surrendered Baby Law, a program created as an alternative to leaving infants in unsafe locations. Under the law in effect when the Riverside baby was found, a parent or another person with lawful custody could voluntarily surrender an infant within 72 hours of birth at an approved safe-surrender site. California’s Department of Social Services says those sites include designated hospitals and other approved locations, commonly fire stations. The program is intended to protect newborns while allowing a lawful surrender to take place without a prosecution for abandonment when its requirements are met.

California established its safe-surrender program in 2001 amid concern about newborns being abandoned in unsafe places, and lawmakers made the program permanent in 2006. State social-services officials say its purpose is to provide an alternative when a person with lawful custody cannot keep a newborn and might otherwise leave the child somewhere dangerous. Riverside police said nearly all fire stations and hospitals in Riverside County serve as surrender locations. The department highlighted that option because investigators believe the child in this case was well within the existing 72-hour eligibility period when he was discovered.

The state is now preparing for a significant expansion of that law. Gov. Gavin Newsom approved Assembly Bill 1628 on Sept. 27, extending the age limit for a safely surrendered infant from 72 hours to 30 days. The legislation, known as the Keeping Infants from Danger Act, was chaptered as state law the same day and is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2027. The change does not alter the allegations against Ramos or retroactively determine the outcome of her criminal case, but it broadens the period in which future parents or people with lawful custody can use the safe-surrender system.

The timing placed the Riverside arrest and the statewide policy change within days of each other. Police publicly announced Ramos’ arrest Sept. 25. Newsom signed the safe-surrender expansion two days later, and Law&Crime reported additional details about Ramos’ custody status and scheduled court appearance on Sept. 29. The legislation was not enacted specifically for the Riverside case, and authorities have not suggested that the two were connected. The case nevertheless involves the type of unsafe newborn abandonment that California officials have cited for years when explaining the purpose of safe-surrender protections.

Important parts of the criminal case remain undisclosed. Police have not said whether Ramos has entered a plea, described what evidence prosecutors intend to rely upon or released an account from Ramos about the allegations. The department has not stated publicly why investigators believe the newborn was left at the Jackson Street apartment complex, how long he had been outside or whether anyone else was involved. No motive has been announced. Those unanswered questions are significant because an arrest establishes an accusation, not guilt, and the evidence supporting the charge will be subject to the criminal court process.

Authorities have also continued to seek information related to the investigation. Riverside police named Detectives Jessica Iniguez and Jarid Zuetel as contacts for people with relevant information when the department announced the arrest. That request indicated that investigators were still open to additional evidence even after identifying and arresting Ramos. Police did not announce additional arrests or identify another suspect in connection with the baby’s abandonment.

For the child, the public record is more limited than it is for the criminal case. The baby survived the discovery and was reported stable after being taken to a hospital, but officials have protected most later information about him. Law&Crime reported that he remained in child-welfare custody at the time of its September story, while later police and news accounts did not provide a detailed health update. His identity has not been made public, an appropriate protection for a minor who is the alleged victim in a criminal case.

Ramos was no longer listed in custody by the time Law&Crime checked jail records Sept. 29 after bail had been set at $35,000. The next publicly reported milestone is her Jan. 12, 2027, appearance at the Riverside Hall of Justice. No later disposition of the child-endangerment case was found in the reviewed sources. Until the case proceeds, the police allegations remain unproven in court.

Author note: Last updated November 9, 2026.