Mass. woman will not face charges after 4 newborns were found 'frozen solid' in freezer

BOSTON (TCD) -- Prosecutors announced a 69-year-old woman will not face any criminal charges after police discovered the bodies of four children inside shoe boxes in her freezer two years ago.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced in a statement April 30 that his office concluded a probe into the deaths of the children found at Alexis Aldamir's apartment, saying the investigation was "one of the most complex, unusual, and perplexing that this office has ever encountered."

On Nov. 17, 2022, a man called the Boston Police Department to report he and his wife were cleaning out his sister's apartment on East Broadway when he located human remains in the freezer. The district attorney's office said police found the bodies of four babies, all of whom were "frozen solid" in shoe boxes that had been wrapped in tin foil. Two of the children were female and two were male, and they were all born at full term. Their umbilical cords were reportedly still attached.

The medical examiner conducted autopsies on the newborns and listed their cause of death as "undetermined." There was also reportedly "no scientific method to determine how long the babies had been frozen," nor was there any indication of trauma or injury. None of the children had food or milk in their digestive systems. Additionally, the medical examiner could not definitively conclude whether the children were born alive.

Investigators learned Aldamir owned and lived in the apartment where the newborns were found. She moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1971 when she was 17 years old, and then to Boston eight years later. She most likely moved into the East Broadway apartment in 1982, and purchased it a year later.

Aldamir had been living in a residential healthcare facility when investigators began looking into the case. Detectives obtained a DNA sample and sent it to a lab, who confirmed Aldamir was the mother of all four children. Aldamir worked at an accounting firm from 1980 to 2021, and her co-workers reportedly said they never knew she was pregnant, as she "was a heavy-set woman who had a penchant for wearing loose-fitting clothing regardless of the season."

Investigators also managed to identify the father of the children, though he passed away in 2011. A birth certificate showed Aldamir gave birth to a baby girl in April 1982. Investigators found parent rights surrender forms that were signed by both Aldamir and the father, but there were no other birth certificates or records.

Aldamir and the man had five children together, one of whom they gave up for adoption.

According to the district attorney's office, investigators "encountered several challenges" while determining whether to file charges against Aldamir. In order to charge her with homicide, detectives needed to find evidence that the newborns were alive as well as a cause of death. However, they could not make either of those determinations. The lack of injuries on the children also contributed to her not facing charges.

Investigators questioned Aldamir in 2022 at the facility where she lives and said she "appeared confused and demonstrated a lack of understanding about where she was and who she was speaking to." She was therefore "unable to provide investigators with any significant information."

The statement says detectives looked at probate records and spoke with her attorney, though what they learned "suggests strongly that Aldamir would be unlikely to stand trial."

The district attorney's office said, "A prosecutor’s office cannot ethically move forward with a case that, in good faith, it believes it cannot bring to trial."

District Attorney Hayden said there are "many elements of this case that will likely never be answered."

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• DA Hayden releases investigative report on babies found in South Boston apartment freezer - Suffolk County District Attorney's Office