Miami-Dade police

Mother Arrested in Death of Baby Found in Homestead Freezer

A mother has been arrested on a manslaughter charge in the death of a 4-month-old baby found deceased in a freezer in a Homestead home last month.

Paola Vargas-Ortiz, 37, was arrested Thursday for her involvement in the death of Hugo Alvarez-Vargas, Miami-Dade Police officials said Thursday.

Vargas-Ortiz was being held without bond after a court appearance Thursday morning. Her attorney and husband refused to comment to reporters after the hearing.

At the hearing, her attorney, Sam Rabin, argued with prosecutors over whether she's a flight risk. Rabin said that although Vargas-Ortiz is from Bolivia, she has lived in South Florida for 19 years and has strong ties to the area.

The baby's body was found on Jan. 17, after Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies made contact with a woman, Vargas-Ortiz, who was attempting to kill herself, Miami-Dade Police said.

Monroe officials said the woman was found in the parking area of the Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon. Authorities said Ortiz gave conflicting stories about the well-being of her child, including one in which she said she threw the baby over the bridge and into the water. The Coast Guard and Fish and Wildlife crews conducted a search as a precaution.

Vargas-Ortiz then told officers her baby was in the freezer at her Homestead home. Investigators immediately responded to the Isles at Oasis in the 2400 block of Northeast 3rd Court and found the baby dead in the freezer.

Vargas-Ortiz was believed to be mentally unstable and was hospitalized, police said.

After she was taken to the hospital, Vargas-Ortiz told a deputy "I was bathing it, and it slipped out of my hands," according to an arrest warrant.

Police haven't given the cause of death for Alvarez-Vargas but warrant said the cause was a lack of oxygen.

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