DC woman accused of trying to flush newborn son down toilet
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal prosecutors have indicted a Washington woman who is accused of strangling, drowning and dismembering her newborn son after giving birth to him in a bathtub.
Prosecutors say 24-year-old Lillian Alvarado never told her family she was pregnant and tried to flush the partially dismembered infant down the toilet inside her family's apartment in northwest Washington in November 2013.
The Washington Post reports that Alvarado is expected to be arraigned Friday on multiple charges, including first-degree murder.
The baby's death was discovered when bloody water leaked down the walls of the apartment below Alvarado's.
Alvarado's public defenders have argued she is not mentally competent to be tried and should instead remain at a psychiatric hospital.
Psychiatrists have found Alvarado competent and she has been ordered to stand trial.
