A woman so desperate to become a mother faked a pregnancy and then stole a newborn baby from a hospital in Mexico, a shocking story now explored in a new Netflix documentary.
Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza, known as Alejandra, was caught on CCTV walking confidently through the Hospital General de México carrying a large gift bag. Inside was a healthy newborn she had just snatched from the maternity ward. She was arrested within hours, and the baby was safely returned.
Pressure to Conceive
Alejandra married Arturo at age 17 in 2000, full of hope. But after successive miscarriages, she was heartbroken and under immense pressure from her husband's family. One in-law blamed her for the miscarriage, and Alejandra blamed herself.
Following her third miscarriage in 2009, she convinced her family for months that she was still pregnant. She read up on pregnancy symptoms, gorged on unhealthy food to gain weight, pretended to feel nauseous, attended prenatal yoga, and even showed an ultrasound photo from work to her family.
The Deception Unravels
When Arturo took her to a doctor, a Doppler fetal monitor failed to find a heartbeat. But the doctor used an old-fashioned Pinard stethoscope and claimed he could hear a heartbeat, authorizing 90 days of maternity leave. The documentary, A Child of My Own, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi, depicts this moment.
Alejandra later explained: 'In my head I was saying, what if I was pregnant? What if I didn't have a miscarriage? There was a lot going on in my head that wasn't right.'
The Kidnap
Alejandra told Arturo she was going to hospital for a caesarean. There, she met Mayra, who had just given birth and was suffering from a fever. While Mayra left her baby to go to the bathroom, Alejandra snatched the newborn, put her in a gift bag, and took her home.
Mayra told the documentary: 'I came back and my daughter was gone. The first thing I thought was maybe they are bathing her or they took her to feed her. I thought a nurse would have her. Never, never did I think my baby was kidnapped.'
Aftermath and Reflection
Police stormed Alejandra's bedroom six hours later, arresting her. She was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison. Arturo, initially charged, was acquitted. The baby girl is now 16, happy and healthy, but Mayra remains traumatized and says, 'I don't think I can ever forgive her.'
Maite Alberdi, who met Alejandra in prison while working on another project, spent four years with her to understand her story. She says Alejandra was suffering from psychosis and received no psychological help until jail. 'She committed a crime, and she made a mistake. I am not justifying that. I am just trying to understand her,' Maite said.
After release, Arturo told Alejandra he still wanted to be a father. She encouraged him to find happiness elsewhere. He had a baby boy with another woman, then returned to Alejandra. She said, 'He told me that he missed me, that he loved me and he wanted me to be in his life. So I decided to give it a try. It makes me very happy to see him smile and fulfilled as a father.'
