Couple Charged As Police Search For Newborn Baby's Body

New Brunswick, NJ - A New Brunswick couple has been charged with a gruesome crime: Improperly disposing of the body of their newborn infant son and lying to the police about what happened to the baby boy, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey said.

Jaciel Torres-Lopez, 34, and Mercedes Sanchez-Torres, 30, both of New Brunswick, have been charged with hindering an investigation into the death of their newborn baby boy and desecration of human remains.

Carey and Anthony Caputo, New Brunswick police director, announced the shocking alleged crime Friday afternoon.

The woman, Sanchez-Torres, was admitted to St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick earlier this week, after giving birth to a baby boy, police said.

However, the baby was not with her when she was admitted.

Police from New Brunswick and the Middlesex County prosecutor's office were called in, and it was determined that the woman did indeed give birth to a child, but the baby's whereabouts were unknown.

Police authorized an excavation of a sewer line at the couple’s home on Remsen Avenue on Tuesday, May 17. They also began a search of the Edgeboro Disposal Inc. landfill in East Brunswick on Wednesday, May 18.

As of Friday afternoon, May 20, the baby's body still has not been found.

As many as 30 law enforcement officers are continuing to search the landfill for the infant’s remains, Carey said.

The man, Torres-Lopez, was arrested Tuesday and charged with lying to police during the investigation, prosecutors said. He has been held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center since Tuesday.

The woman was charged with improper disposal of human remains Thursday, while she lay in a hospital bed. The man was charged Thursday with that crime as well.

Bail was set at $100,000 for both of them. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.

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