TEEN MOTHER SENTENCED 16 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDERING NEWBORN BY STABBING BABY DAUGHTER MULTIPLE TIMES AND HIDING CORPSE IN CLOSET

TEEN MOTHER SENTENCED 16 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDERING NEWBORN BY STABBING BABY DAUGHTER MULTIPLE TIMES AND HIDING CORPSE IN CLOSET

SANTA ANA – A teen mother was sentenced today to 16 years to life in state prison for murdering her newborn immediately after giving birth by stabbing her multiple times and hiding the corpse in her closet. Yoselin Torres Tovar, 20, Fullerton, pleaded guilty on May 1, 2012, during the second day of jury trial to one felony count of second degree murder with a sentencing enhancement allegation for the use of a deadly weapon.

Between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on April 18, 2010, Tovar, then-18 years old, gave birth to a baby girl in the bathroom of her family’s Fullerton home. The defendant stabbed the newborn multiple times, wrapped her body, and placed her in Tovar’s bedroom closet. No one in her family knew she was pregnant. When her family saw blood on the defendant, they took her to St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton.

Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors examined Tovar and determined that she had just given birth and alerted police. Shortly after, Tovar expelled the placenta at the hospital. That same night, Fullerton Police officers found the discarded newborn in the defendant’s bedroom closet.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.

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