State rests in Eckersley abandoned newborn case; trial to resume on Wednesday

MANCHESTER, NH – After 2 ½ days of testimony, prosecutors rested their case against Alexandra Eckersley, the formerly homeless woman accused of abandoning her newborn son in 15-degree weather after giving birth to him in a makeshift tent in the woods.

Eckersley, 27, did not know she was pregnant when on Dec. 26, 2022, in the dark and freezing cold, she gave birth to a premature son.

She and her then boyfriend George Theberge, left the newborn in the tent and walked to the West Side Ice Arena to make a 911 call to get help. Theberge had told Eckersley that the baby had no pulse.

Prosecutors contend she abandoned the newborn to seek warmth and get emergency help for herself. She is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, reckless conduct, falsifying physical evidence and endangering the welfare of a child.

Defense attorneys maintain Eckersley told a 911 dispatcher the baby was on the opposite side of the West Side trail rail across a trestle bridge in Goffstown.

On Monday, 911 dispatcher Pamela Packard testified that Eckersley never gave the exact location of the baby or said he was in a tent.  She conceded after the 911 call was played, that Eckersley had said the baby was on the Goffstown side of the trestle bridge.

Prosecutors maintain Eckersley led emergency workers around for an hour in the opposite direction of where the child was before leading them to the exact location – a half-mile from where they were searching.

EMTs treated Eckersley on scene when they arrived. She told police she was returning from a 7-Eleven and was walking on the rail trail when she gave birth near the ball fields on the Manchester side.  Emergency workers walked her around that area but found nothing.  Eckersley began bleeding through her clothing again and was brought back to the ambulance for a second round of treatment.  She refused transport to a hospital.

In the ambulance for the second time, Eckersley told emergency workers when she gave birth the baby cried.

Emergency responders then realized they could be looking for a live infant.

It was only after about a 60-minute search in the dark and freezing temperatures in an area about a half-mile away from her campsite, that Eckersley, realizing no one was going to give up on finding the newborn, “changed her story and finally told the truth,” Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Alexander Gatzoulis said in his opening statement.

Eckersley led police, EMTs and fire fighters to the tent.  En route, rescuers came across a blood trail and the placenta.  Eckersley led them across the trestle bridge and down a path to the makeshift tent.  Inside, the newborn was found on the floor, uncovered, unclothed and suffering from hypothermia.   In his opening, Gatzoulis played a video clip, recorded on the body worn camera of Officer William Collins, of fellow Officer Joseph Vitale finding the baby.

“Oh, Jesus Christ. It’s here. Yeah, it’s still alive.  It’s still moving,” Vitale is heard saying.

Barry wrapped the baby in a blanket and walked briskly back across the bridge to the rail trail in Manchester.  She called for an ambulance but opted for an on-scene firetruck to transport them to Catholic Medical Center.

En route to Catholic Medical Center, the baby opened its eyes, Gatzoulis said.

When the baby arrived at Catholic Medical Center at 1:45 a.m. on Dec. 26, 2022, Alexandria Gosselin, a registered nurse in the emergency room, was on duty.  The baby, she said, weighed 4 pounds, 6 ounces.

“He was in code blue, receiving CPR,” she said. “His arms and legs were flaccid and he was bloody and covered in dirt. The first responder had him in his hand and was performing one-handed compressions while walking into the trauma bay.”

The baby was dark, reddish in color, indicating he was not circulating his blood very well, she said.  His eyes were not open the first time she saw him but his eyes opened later on just before he was transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock hours later.  When she first saw him, there was no movement.

“We were treating him for hypothermia,” she said.  Medical personnel used hot packs to warm him and put him in an infant warmer to bring his temperature up.

Because the infant was so small, a skin temperature reading was taken for the infant.  An internal temperature, she said, is generally three to four degrees warmer than a skin temperature.

The infant’s temperature registered 82.7 degrees Fahrenheit when it was taken at 2:20 a.m., 35 minutes after he first arrived and after he had been in a warmer with heat packs underneath and alongside him.

He was also in respiratory distress and had to be intubated.

Hours later, the infant was transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for further treatment. The child, who Eckersley named Edward Ruth after her grandparents, recovered.  Now 19 months old, he lives with Eckersley and her mother in Massachusetts.

Defense attorneys maintain Eckersley committed no crime, that she is innocent.

The jury was released early Monday after the state rested. First Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Shawn Sweeney and Public Defender Kim Kossick both said the state’s case had ended earlier than expected.

Judge Amy Messer has other obligations on Tuesday so the trial will resume on Wednesday with the defense presenting its witnesses.

In dismissing the jury, Messer said depending on testimony, closing arguments could take place on Wednesday or Thursday.