Teen mom who gave birth alone charged with manslaughter for infant's death in Boca Raton

WEST PALM BEACH — Bianca DeSouza gave birth to a boy with chubby arms and a cry that only she would hear. He was still warm by the time first responders filed into her bedroom but had gone quiet long before. Their attempts to resuscitate him failed.

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies charged DeSouza with aggravated manslaughter on Dec. 8, a year and a half after the newborn's death. Investigators say she ignored the child's cries and let him suffocate under a blanket while she reeled from the delivery in bed.

"I just didn't do anything," she told deputies later. "It was like my body stopped working."

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According to DeSouza's arrest report, the 19-year-old suburban Boca Raton woman had considered terminating her pregnancy but ultimately decided on adoption. She was scheduled to undergo induced childbirth at a hospital on May 3, 2022, but went into labor alone in her bedroom one day earlier.

She didn't call 911 until hours later, when her mother came home and discovered the infant alone in her daughter's bed. DeSouza, who faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, told deputies she thought he was only sleeping.

Palm Beach County mother's arrest report details inconsistent statements, drug use throughout pregnancy

According to her arrest report, DeSouza gave varying descriptions of the time before and after the birth. In an initial statement, she said she stayed awake the night before, unable to stand and unsure of what was happening. She denied feeling any pain during the delivery and claimed only to have felt a sudden need to push.

"And then I gave birth to him," said DeSouza, now 21. "I kind of just sat there, really confused. I didn't know what to do. I just sat there."

In another interview, she described feeling abdominal pain that caused her to tear down the blinds of her bedroom window. She said she continued to push after the baby was born until she delivered the placenta, then listened to her child cry.

DeSouza initially told deputies she held the baby, but said later that the opposite was true — she had been afraid to touch him. Caught in the leg of her boxer shorts, he cried for about 10 minutes before DeSouza said she fell asleep.

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DeSouza's mother, Nicole Presnell, returned home from work and found the baby on top of the blanket, still inside the boxer shorts. DeSouza had showered and was in her mother's room, scrolling through Instagram.

When asked why she didn't call 911, DeSouza said she didn't know. Presnell told deputies DeSouza had been stressed over not finding a suitable family for adoption. She said she feared her daughter had a psychotic break and "did something to the baby."

DeSouza was hospitalized under Florida's Baker Act at Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health Center on May 3, 2022, and told nurses she had stopped taking Lexapro, a medication often used to treat depression and anxiety, two weeks earlier.

Deputies also found a handwritten note by DeSouza in her medical records detailing consistent drug and alcohol use throughout the pregnancy, including Xanax, oxycodone, marijuana and Hennessey.

Baby's death ruled homicide one year later

Palm Beach County medical examiners ruled the child's death a homicide by asphyxiation on April 28, 2023. In their report, they noted evidence that the infant's face was positioned against DeSouza's thigh under the blanket, further restricting his breathing.

DeSouza had broken down at her baby's viewing on May 10, 2022, and apologized repeatedly to the child, laid in a small makeshift crib. A deputy pressed her on this apology later, asking if she intentionally suffocated the baby.

"No, never," she said.

DeSouza was released on bond and appointed a public defender. As a practice, the county Public Defender's Office does not comment on open cases.

She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for aggravated manslaughter of a child and up to 15 years for one count of child neglect.

Safe Haven laws: What to know about relinquishing a newborn

DeSouza’s arrest comes almost exactly one year after the arrest of another Palm Beach County woman who gave birth alone and didn’t call for help. Arya Singh told investigators she didn’t know she was pregnant until she went into labor alone in a motel bathroom.

Unlike DeSouza, Singh tried to hide the baby’s body after it died by disposing of it in the Boynton Inlet. Prosecutors charged her with murder, and she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in July.

According to a report by the magazine Mother Jones, there are no infanticide laws in the U.S. that would find women who take the lives of their own children less culpable than other killers. Such laws exist in England, Ireland, Canada and a handful of other countries, based on the idea that childbirth alters a woman's mind, and the ensuing hormonal changes are akin to a psychological condition.

The maximum charge for women who commit infanticide in these countries is manslaughter.

Florida's Safe Haven law lets parents leave their newborns, no more than a week old, at any hospital or fire station staffed with full-time emergency medical service technicians, paramedics, or firefighters anonymously and without fear of prosecution.

Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County woman who gave birth alone arrested for baby's death