In Nevada, Taylour Sierra Dickinson pleaded no contest to attempted murder, ending plans for a trial and setting an October sentencing hearing.

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada woman accused of putting her newborn son in a garbage bag and leaving him in an apartment complex dumpster has pleaded no contest to attempted murder, moving the case from a planned trial to a sentencing hearing where she faces a possible prison term of up to 20 years.

Taylour Sierra Dickinson entered the plea July 29 in Washoe County District Court under an agreement with prosecutors. A separate charge of child abuse, neglect or endangerment was dismissed as part of the deal. Dickinson had previously pleaded not guilty, and a trial had been expected in August. Her change of plea means a judge will instead decide her punishment at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 7. Under Nevada law, an attempt to commit a category A felony may be punished by two to 20 years in state prison.

The plea resolves the central criminal charge arising from the July 5, 2025, discovery of a newborn boy in a dumpster in Sun Valley, north of Reno. Authorities said Dickinson gave birth during the early morning hours and placed the infant in the dumpster afterward. The boy remained there until a passerby heard crying and went into the trash container to rescue him. Emergency crews took the child to Renown Regional Medical Center, and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office later reported that he was healthy and doing well. Officials have not publicly released the child’s name.

The case began as an emergency call about an abandoned infant and quickly became a criminal investigation. Sheriff’s officials announced Dickinson’s arrest two days after the baby was found. She was initially booked on attempted murder and child abuse, neglect or endangerment charges. Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks formally announced the charges July 9, 2025, and prosecutors successfully asked a judge to set bail at $1 million cash only. Dickinson remained in custody as the case proceeded through district court and eventually toward the plea agreement reached this summer.

Investigators offered a more detailed account of the hours surrounding the birth during an early bail hearing. Detective Claire Hoops-Adams testified about statements Dickinson gave investigators and evidence gathered in the case. Authorities said Dickinson told investigators that she had not realized she was pregnant before unexpectedly giving birth in a bathroom during the early morning. According to the testimony, she used a towel to pick up the baby, wrapped the infant and put him into a garbage bag before taking the bag outside. Investigators placed the birth at about 2:30 a.m. and the disposal of the bag roughly an hour later.

Dickinson gave investigators several explanations for what happened, according to accounts of the hearing. Authorities said she initially described what she had discarded in a way that did not acknowledge it as a baby but later admitted that she knew she had delivered an infant. Investigators also said she described being in a state of panic and told them that leaving the newborn in the dumpster seemed like her “best option” at the time. She said she hoped someone passing through the area would find the child. The statements were presented by investigators as part of the evidence against her; they did not amount to a finding by a jury because the case will no longer proceed to trial.

Financial concerns also emerged in the investigation. Dickinson told authorities she did not want additional children and said her household was living paycheck to paycheck. Those statements became part of prosecutors’ account of the circumstances surrounding the abandonment. They did not change the legal focus of the case: whether Dickinson acted with the intent required to support the attempted-murder charge. By entering a no-contest plea, Dickinson did not formally admit the conduct in the same manner as a guilty plea, but she accepted the attempted-murder conviction without requiring prosecutors to prove the charge at trial.

The survival of the child was tied directly to the intervention of the person who heard him crying. Sheriff Darin Balaam credited the citizen with saving the newborn’s life after Dickinson’s arrest. The sheriff’s office said the passerby entered the dumpster and removed the infant before first responders arrived. The agency also credited detectives with identifying Dickinson during the investigation. Although authorities have provided updates about the baby’s condition, they have limited identifying information because the case involves a minor and because officials said they wanted to protect the child’s welfare.

Prosecutors also raised a separate 2023 incident during Dickinson’s initial court proceedings. The district attorney’s office said Dickinson had reported suffering a miscarriage and placing the remains of a baby near or in a dumpster at another apartment complex. That child did not survive, according to reporting on the court hearing. The district attorney’s office emphasized that no criminal case was submitted for prosecution from the earlier incident and no charges were filed because of the facts, circumstances and evidence available at the time. The 2023 matter therefore did not produce a criminal conviction and should not be treated as a proven separate offense.

The 2025 case also drew attention to Nevada’s existing procedure for legally surrendering a newborn. State law requires specified emergency-service providers to take possession of a child who is, or appears to be, no more than 30 days old when a parent voluntarily delivers the child and does not intend to return for the infant. The law covers locations and providers that include hospitals, public firefighting agencies and law enforcement agencies. After Dickinson’s arrest, both the sheriff’s office and district attorney’s office reminded the public that the safe-haven process provides a legal and confidential way to surrender a newborn.

That provision did not determine whether Dickinson committed the charged crime, but it became part of the official response because authorities said a legal surrender option existed at the time. Under the safe-haven statute, a parent using the procedure generally is not required to provide identifying information unless authorities have reasonable cause to believe the child has been abused or neglected apart from the surrender itself. Emergency providers are required to protect the child’s physical safety and, when necessary, arrange transport to an appropriate medical facility. The law is designed to place a newborn immediately into a protected setting rather than leave the child unattended.

The most important change since the initial arrest is that prosecutors no longer need to present the case to a jury. Dickinson had entered not-guilty pleas in January and had been scheduled for trial, leaving disputed issues to be tested through testimony and other evidence. The July no-contest plea eliminated that trial. It also removed the separate child-abuse count under the negotiated agreement. The attempted-murder conviction now becomes the basis of the sentencing proceeding, where the court will determine how much of the two-to-20-year statutory range to impose.

The record available publicly does not establish what precise sentence prosecutors will request, what punishment Dickinson’s defense will seek or what weight the sentencing judge will give to the circumstances discussed during earlier hearings. The statutory maximum does not mean that a 20-year term is automatic. Sentencing remains a judicial decision within the applicable legal framework. Dickinson remains in custody pending the next stage of the case, according to court reporting, while the newborn whose rescue prompted the investigation was last publicly reported by authorities to be healthy and doing well.

Currently, Dickinson is scheduled to return to Washoe County District Court on Oct. 7, 2026, for sentencing on the attempted-murder conviction. That hearing, rather than the August trial once planned, is now the next confirmed milestone in a case that began with a passerby hearing a newborn’s cries from a Sun Valley dumpster more than a year earlier.

Author note: Last updated August 30, 2026.