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18-year-old mom charged with abandoning newborn in dumpster

Photos from March 2016, when the child was found in a dumpster.

Snohomish County Prosecutors charged an 18-year-old mother for abandoning her infant son who was found near a dumpster.

KIRO 7 News reported in March that a passerby called 911 to report hearing crying from a dumpster near an apartment complex.

An Everett police officer crawled into the bin and found the babylying against garbage; the officer had to move several garbage bags and a microwave before finding the child, according to charging documents. The umbilical cord was still attached.

Only a few hours old, the baby was taken to a hospital.

Everett Police arrested his mother, Samantha Houston, weeks later.

Police said Houston admitted she delivered the baby in the shower, then left the baby boy in a dumpster.  An anonymous caller told police Houston was 7 to 8 months pregnant when she dropped out of Cascade High School and returned a month later, no longer pregnant and unwilling to answer questions about the baby.

Prosecutors say Houston created an imminent and substantial risk to the child. She is charged with second-degree abandonment of a dependent person, a felony.