MLB Hall of Famer’s daughter arrested after giving birth in the woods, lying about child’s location
12/27/2022 12:55 pm PST
MANCHESTER, N.H. (TCD) -- A 26-year-old woman and daughter of a Hall of Fame baseball player was taken into custody after she gave birth to a child in the woods, then allegedly lied about the newborn’s location.
According to a statement, on Dec. 26 at 12:40 a.m., Manchester Police Department officers responded to the West Side Arena after receiving a report about a woman who had a child in the surrounding wooded area. Officers and paramedics from the Manchester Fire Department and American Medical Response reportedly arrived on the scene and searched for the newborn in an area where Alexandra Eckersley directed them, but they could not find the child.
About an hour later, Eckersley reportedly "revealed the true location of the baby and led officers to the area."
Officials found the child and transported the infant to a local hospital for treatment.
Manchester Police said Eckersley was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant out of Concord District Court for endangering the welfare of a child. She was also charged with reckless conduct for the Manchester incident.
WMUR-TV reports the newborn is at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and is alive. Eckersley reportedly gave birth inside a tent, but the heat was off.
According to WCVB-TV, the weather was about 18 degrees outside. Officers located the child, who was naked, reportedly suffering from hypothermia.
Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg reportedly said, "There’s no excuse for this. If you choose to live in the woods and choose to live your life a particular way, and you don’t want accept our outreach that goes every day in this city — and you want to live out there and do that with your life — fine. But you don’t get to do this, what we’re alleging here. You don’t get to do this to a child."
WMUR reports Eckersley was additionally charged with endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree assault/extreme indifference, and falsifying evidence. She pleaded not guilty from the hospital.
Alexandra Eckersley is the daughter of Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley.
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