After reportedly giving birth to a premature baby in the New Hampshire woods and lying to authorities about its whereabouts, a woman from New Hampshire with a well-known father is now facing many charges.
According to an arrest affidavit, Alexandra Eckersley, 26, called the Manchester police on Monday at 12:26 a.m. to report that she had given birth in the woods close to the Piscataquog River on the west side of the city. The temperature was 15 Fahrenheit at the time.
Eckersley is reported to have admitted to the attending EMT that she was unaware of her pregnancy and had felt the urge to use the restroom, but when she gave birth to the child instead, she was unsure of what to do with the child.
Eckersley directed the police to start looking for the baby in the neighboring woods near the city’s West Side Ice Arena; when she eventually exited the ambulance, she directed the searchers south down the river toward some nearby baseball fields. Eckersley initially didn’t seem to be able to assist the officers in finding the youngster, and the officers believed that her behavior was consistent with being actively under the effect of drugs.
Police employed drones and ultimately called in a K-9 team in an effort to find the newborn due to the extreme cold, potential for a premature birth, and her inability to identify where she’d given birth.
Eckersley allegedly told the EMT that the infant was actually found in her and her boyfriend’s tent, north of the arena and over the Piscataqua Rail Trail footbridge, after nearly an hour of walking with searchers and returning to the ambulance to warm up. She consented to direct the troops there.
They allegedly discovered what seemed to be Eckersley’s placenta when they were hiking with her.
According to the affidavit, she took them to a tarp-covered tent-structure with furniture and other possessions that was barely visible from the trail. Officers discovered the 4.41-pound baby boy, who was still breathing, naked, and close to a bed that was covered in blood, inside a smaller, separate tent that was designated for sleeping. The baby was taken to the hospital, where the staff discovered that he had most likely been growing in his mother’s womb for six months prior to birth and decided to airlift him to another hospital for treatment.
After the 911 call, it took police an hour and fifteen minutes to find the toddler.
Police said that Eckersley started singing along and playing music on her phone at the campsite, but she vehemently denied having used narcotics recently, saying her most recent use had been marijuana and cocaine two days earlier. She declined post-partum treatment, but in the end consented to a police interview in return for a supper and a lighter.
Eckersley apparently acknowledged going into labor around 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, despite thinking she was “constipated or hemorrhaging” at the time. The infant cried for about a minute after she gave birth to her kid between 11 p.m. and midnight, but Eckersley allegedly claimed her boyfriend, George, informed her that the baby didn’t need her.
Police said that Eckersley started singing along and playing music on her phone at the campsite, but she vehemently denied having used narcotics recently, saying her most recent use had been marijuana and cocaine two days earlier. She declined post-partum treatment, but in the end consented to a police interview in return for a supper and a lighter.
Eckersley apparently acknowledged going into labor around 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, despite thinking she was “constipated or hemorrhaging” at the time. The infant cried for about a minute after she gave birth to her kid between 11 p.m. and midnight, but Eckersley allegedly claimed her boyfriend, George, informed her that the baby didn’t need her.
She allegedly informed the detective that when questioned why she hadn’t brought the infant with her to dial 911, “What information are you given when a plane crashes? First, save yourself.”
Eckersley allegedly urged the investigator to “f—k herself” after he inquired about how the infant would be expected to survive without mom.
Officers later discovered via a friend that Eckersley is said to have been aware of her pregnancy.
According to a news release from the Manchester Police Department, Eckersley was detained on a pending, unrelated warrant from Concord, New Hampshire for endangering the welfare of a child. According to court documents analyzed by Oxygen.com, she has subsequently been charged with careless behavior, endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree assault-extreme disregard, and fabricating physical evidence.
According to the Link, her bond was set at $3,000 with the requirements that she not speak to her son and either in a sober living home, with her parents, or in another authorized place.
According to a May 2019 article of Eckersley in the Concord Monitor, she is the daughter of former Major League Baseball player and commentator Dennis Eckersley, who adopted her as a baby with his second wife, Nancy O’Neil Eckersley. She and her partner were being evicted from their camp when they first met the reporter.
Dennis Eckersley was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004 and pitched for clubs including the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Oakland Athletics. Additionally, he has worked as an analyst for TBS’ MLB coverage and as a color commentator for sporting events.
According to Alexandra Eckersley’s account in the Concord Monitor article, she went to Concord, New Hampshire from her native Massachusetts in January 2018 and spent the entire winter there in a tent with her then-boyfriend. According to Concord arrest records made public by Patch, she has been detained numerous times since then on suspicion of using drugs, stealing, and other offenses.
In response to the 2019 news, her stepmother Jennifer Eckersley issued a statement from Dennis and Nancy.
“Allie was diagnosed with mental illness at age two, and throughout the years, her condition deteriorated noticeably, necessitating numerous hospitalizations and, eventually, institutionalization.
“We have dedicated ourselves to her health and wellbeing as a family. She has received our unwavering love, care, and support. We have looked everywhere for the assistance, programs, resources, and specialists she has required throughout her life “Then the statement went on. “Our ability to act on her behalf became far more constrained once she reached legal age,” the statement continued.
According to Alexandra Eckersley, who spoke to the newspaper, she began using several facilities at the age of 6 for behavioral and mental health issues.
In trying to “get back on track,” Eckersley, who was 22 at the time, told the reporter that she had been taking her medicine, scheduling doctor’s visits, and even checking herself into an emergency psychiatric hospital for two days. Prior to 2018, she acknowledged making “mistakes” that she did not want to discuss, but she was disappointed that her parents did not accept her homelessness more.
She stated that she had called her parents in February 2019 to let them know she had been accepted to Granite State College and New Hampshire Technical Institute, but that she felt they were too preoccupied with the fact that she was homeless to hear her message.
However, she said that she was unwilling to accept her parents’ assistance.
“Just because I want a house and a good education, I don’t want to choose the simple route, “She informed the journalist.
Her parents insisted that they were more worried about her mental health than they were about her homelessness.
Unfortunately, the problem in her case is more related to mental illness than homelessness, according to the statement. “We continue to pray that Allie will obtain the mental health care she so desperately needs to turn her life around.