A 23-year-old woman intentionally caused the death of her infant whose body was found next to a dumpster at a motel in west Fort Worth on Sunday, police allege.
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Avia Cantrell was arrested on Monday on suspicion of capital murder, according to Fort Worth jail records. A second suspect, 26-year-old Camron Baker, was arrested on suspicion of abuse of a corpse.
Fort Worth police officers were called about 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18, to the Drummers Inn, in the 7300 block of Camp Bowie West Boulevard, after a person found the baby’s body, police said.
On Monday morning, a relative of Cantrell who was worried that the baby might be Cantrell’s called police. Cantrell has a history of unattended or undisclosed pregnancy and childbirth and was close to delivering, according to the relative’s account, described in a police record.
The relative said that Cantrell lives at the motel full-time with three other children.
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The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released the cause of the infant’s death.
Fort Worth Police Department crimes against children unit detectives are investigating the case.
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This story was originally published October 19, 2026 at 7:48 PM with the headline “Infant’s body found near Fort Worth dumpster; mother faces capital murder charge.”
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