The mother of an abandoned newborn has been identified and arrested almost four years after her baby girl was found alive in a plastic bag in a wooded area.
Karima Jiwani, aged 40, was arrested by deputies from the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office in northern Georgia on Thursday.
She faces charges of criminal attempt to commit murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated assault, and reckless abandonment.
The child's father was also identified approximately 10 months ago through advanced DNA investigative techniques and familial DNA, as announced by Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman during a news conference on Friday.
Using DNA evidence gathered in the past week, Jiwani was identified as the mother of the child, affectionately named "Baby India," reported CNN.
The incident took place on June 6, 2019, when a family in Cumming, Georgia, heard what they believed were animal sounds coming from a wooded area about 40 miles north of Atlanta.
Law enforcement officers responded to the scene and discovered the crying newborn wrapped in a yellow plastic bag with her umbilical cord still attached, as depicted in body camera footage.
Sheriff Freeman stated that Baby India was likely born inside a vehicle, and further evidence revealed that Jiwani drove for a considerable amount of time after the birth, ultimately deciding to tie the baby in a plastic bag and abandon her in the woods to perish.
It remains unclear whether Jiwani has legal representation at this time.
Sheriff Freeman noted that evidence collected during the investigation led authorities to believe that Jiwani acted alone when abandoning the child.
Jiwani, a resident of southeast Forsyth County, has been cooperative with detectives throughout the investigation, according to the sheriff's office.
Due to the pending prosecution, the motives and details of Jiwani's statements to investigators could not be disclosed.
Sheriff Freeman emphasised that there is no justification for Jiwani's decision and that she made no attempt to leave the child in a safe place, such as under Georgia's "Safe Haven Law".
The state's Safe Place for Newborns Act protects mothers from criminal charges if they leave their baby with medical facility volunteers or staff, or at a fire or police station.
This law applies to infants aged 30 days or younger, as outlined by the Georgia Department of Human Services.
During the course of the investigation, the sheriff's office discovered that Jiwani had a history of concealing her pregnancies and surprising births.
Digital evidence indicated that she had knowledge of this particular pregnancy for some time and took extreme measures to hide it.
The sheriff clarified that there is currently no evidence suggesting that the father was aware of either the pregnancy or the abandonment of the baby.
Sheriff Freeman did not provide specific details regarding Baby India's current situation but assured the public that she is in a "happy, healthy, and safe place."
