Report: Mother Arrested Years After Abandoned Baby Discovered Alive in Plastic Bag

The mother of a newborn who was discovered abandoned and wrapped in a plastic bag nearly four years ago in Georgia has been arrested, PEOPLE reported.

Karima Jiwani, 40, was arrested on Thursday and is facing charges of criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, reckless abandonment, cruelty to children in the 1st Degree, among other charges, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

The child, called “Baby India,” was discovered in a wooded area on June 6, 2019, according to officials. The man who discovered her at the time allegedly told emergency responders he heard her crying from his home and found her covered in blood with the umbilical cord still attached.

“Four years ago, I said in this room, and I told you, we will bring this person to justice,” Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman said during a press conference on Friday. “Little did I know it was going to take four years.”

Mother Arrested Nearly 4 Years After Abandoned 'Baby India' Discovered Alive in Plastic Bag https://t.co/OCIHICISjg

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Freeman said investigators were able to use “advanced DNA practices” to make a breakthrough in the case and identify the child’s father. Subsequently, investigators worked to figure out who was responsible for leaving the newborn in the woods, according to the report. 

“He said that evidence found suggested that Jiwani drove for a ‘significant amount of time’ after baby India was born in her car. He said the new mother had made ‘no effort to leave this child’ in a ‘place this child could be found,'” according to the report. 

Freeman said the mother’s family and friends told law enforcement she allegedly had a “history of hidden and concealed pregnancies and surprise births” and that she had allegedly “known about the pregnancy for a considerable period of time” and “went to extremes to conceal this pregnancy,” the report states. 

Freeman noted that investigators did not uncover any evidence to suggest the child’s father was aware of the pregnancy or the abandonment.

“This child was tied up in a plastic bag and thrown into the woods like a bag of trash. I can’t understand that,” Freeman said. “It literally is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.”

The sheriff did celebrate the community’s response to the incident, saying, “Forsyth County surrounded this little girl with love, care, and prayers, and lifted her up the way it’s supposed to be.” 

Freeman did not give many details about the child but confirmed she is in a “happy, healthy, and safe place.”