Teen mom of baby found buried in Carrollton cemetery flowerpot indicted on capital murder charge

A Dallas teenager was indicted Thursday on a capital murder charge in Denton County after she came forward as the mother of a newborn girl found buried in a flowerpot last year.

Jazmin Lopez, 19, came forward to police late last March after seeing news coverage that her child had been found by a caretaker at Perry Cemetery in Carrollton earlier that month. She told police she had given birth to the girl on Feb. 4 in her home in Far North Dallas, according to an affidavit.

Lopez initially told police her daughter, whom she named Kailen, stopped breathing shortly after she gave birth. She later changed her story after police found information on her phone that indicated she wanted an abortion, according to an affidavit. Her family did not know she was pregnant.

In a later interview, Lopez told police she gave birth in her bathroom and kept the baby quiet while she cleaned up, according to an affidavit. She said she put the baby in a closet while she ate breakfast, and later in a backpack when a friend arrived to pick her up, an affidavit states.

According to an affidavit, when she realized the baby had died, she and her friend drove to Home Depot to get a flowerpot and flowers. The next day, they placed the flowerpot between two headstones at Perry Cemetery with the baby buried inside, according to an affidavit.

The flowerpot sat there for more than a month before the baby was discovered. The baby still had her umbilical cord attached, and had no signs of injury or trauma, according to an autopsy report.

Lopez was also indicted on a charge of tampering with evidence. She is free on a $250,000 bond while she awaits trial, Denton County Jail records show. It was unclear Thursday whether she has an attorney.