Woman Charged With Attempted Murder After Leaving Newborn Baby In Nursing Home Trash Can

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Morton Grove woman has been charged with attempted murder, after her newborn baby was found abandoned in a garbage can last month at a nursing home in Glenview.

Police said 40-year-old Verna Tolentino was working at Glenview Terrace Nursing Home around 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 11, when she was taken to Glenbrook Hospital, complaining of abdominal pain. Witnesses said she had locked herself in the bathroom before requesting an ambulance.

Around 3 p.m. the same day, cleaning staff at the nursing home found a newborn baby boy inside a tied garbage bag in a trash can in the bathroom Tolentino had used before she was taken to the hospital. The baby was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital for treatment.

Police said, once the baby had been found, it had been determined Tolentino had given birth and had been transferred to the labor unit at Evanston Hospital.

On Friday, police said Tolentino had been charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder and child abandonment.

She was due to appear for a bond hearing Friday at the Skokie Courthouse.

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