The daughter of MLB Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley revealed the disturbing reasons why she allegedly abandoned her newborn baby in the below-freezing New Hampshire woods on Christmas night in 2022.
Alexandra Eckersley told the court on the first day of her trial that she didn’t know she was pregnant, thought the baby had died and had been suffering from multiple mental health problems including substance abuse disorder, according to NBC Boston.
Eckersley, 27, was homeless at the time and living in a tent in the woods with her boyfriend, 45-year-old George Theberge.
After giving birth to her son, Eckersley was bleeding heavily and believed she had suffered a miscarriage, Defense Attorney Jordan Strand said during her opening statements on Thursday, claiming she didn’t break any laws.
“Allie did not commit a crime. She did not behave recklessly. She did not behave purposely,” Strand said according to the Union Leader. “She did not act with extreme indifference to the value of human life. She is innocent.”
Strand argued the state of New Hampshire was treating Eckersley like a “typical person having a baby.”
Strand said her client had no idea she was pregnant and believed she had a miscarriage while also suffering a medical emergency from the blood loss.
“Allie was bleeding heavily and George Theberge told her the fetus did not have a pulse,” Strand said. “Allie was experiencing a life-threatening emergency.”
Because they were in the woods, there was no cell phone service, forcing the couple to walk to an ice arena.
On the walk over, Eckersley experienced after birth but believed she had just given birth to a second child.
When she eventually reached 911, she told the dispatcher she had given birth twice, one to a baby that had lived for less than a minute and another one that died immediately.
Officers were sent out to meet Eckersley, but her attorney says they ignored her even after she reportedly showed them the location where the baby was, the outlet reported.
Prosecutors argued Eckersley knew the baby was still alive as she “intentionally” led police officers away from the tent.
“Nearly after an hour after she gave birth, she told them a new fact for the first time: The baby was crying when she gave birth,” Prosecutor Alexander Gatzoulis said. “This completely changed the landscape of the search and increased everyone’s urgency because now they were looking for a baby, and not a corpse.”
Gatzoulis said the baby suffered respiratory distress and hypothermia from being out in the cold air that dropped to 15 degrees.
First responders switched gears and rushed to find the baby after learning the crucial information.
“I recognized that we had limited time before the baby was going to die,” Manchester Police Officer William Collins testified during the trial. “It (the cry) confirmed at one point the baby was alive, so we needed to move quickly.”
Eckersley eventually led the first responders to the tent where they discovered the newborn, who was “cold, blue, covered in blood but alive.”
During an interview with police, Eckersley admitted to having taken cocaine and marijuana in the days before the birth, according to an affidavit viewed by The Post.
Eckersley is on trial after pleading not guilty to charges of assault, reckless conduct, falsifying evidence and endangering the welfare of a child.
A jury of eight women and six men were chosen to be part of the trial at Hillsborough Superior Court which is expected to last five days.
Eckersley is the adoptive daughter of pitching legend Dennis Eckersley and his second wife, Nancy, who was in the courtroom with several other supportive family members.
The Eckersley family said they were “in complete shock” but had no prior knowledge of the pregnancy following their daughter’s arrest.
Theberge was also arrested and sentenced to at least a year in prison after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge and an additional six months behind bars for a probation violation stemming from his arrest in January and a drug charge.
Dennis Eckersley played for 24 seasons, pitching for the Indians, Red Sox, Cubs, Athletics and Cardinals from 1975 to 1998.
He earned six All-Star nods, as well as the AL MVP award and the AL Cy Young Award in 1992. He was named the ALCS MVP in 1988, before winning a World Series with the Athletics in 1989.
Dennis Eckersley was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004 and later became a broadcaster for the Red Sox until his retirement in 2022.