() — Nearly four years after an abandoned newborn was found alive in a plastic bag in a wooded area in North Georgia, authorities have identified and arrested the girl’s mother.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office arrested 40-year-old Karima Jiwani Thursday on charges of attempted murder, child cruelty, aggravated assault and reckless abandon.
The sheriff’s office identified the girl’s father about 10 months ago using advanced DNA investigative practices and family DNA, Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman said during a news conference Friday.
In the past week, DNA has helped the sheriff’s office identify Jiwani as the mother of the girl, nicknamed “Baby India,” Freeman said.
The baby was believed to be just hours old when a family in Cumming, Georgia, about 40 miles north of Atlanta, heard what they thought were animal noises coming from a wooded area on June 6, 2019.
Body camera recordings from responding police officers showed the crying girl wrapped in a yellow plastic bag with the umbilical cord still attached to her body.
According to Freeman, it is likely that India’s birth occurred inside a vehicle.
Further tests revealed that Jiwani drove for a “significant amount of time” after the delivery with the child in the car “until he decided to tie the child in a plastic bag and dump her in the woods to die,” Freeman said.
was unable to determine if Jiwani has an attorney defending her.
Freeman said evidence collected during the investigation led authorities to believe that Jiwani was likely alone when the girl was abandoned.
Jiwani, who lived in southeast Forsyth County, has been cooperative with detectives throughout the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.
Karima Jiwani is facing a series of charges for abandoning her baby in 2019, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. (Credit: Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office)
Authorities said they could not discuss the motives or details of what Jiwani told investigators as the case is pending prosecution.
“Little can explain how this happened, and no reason can justify that decision,” Freeman said. “Jiwani made no effort to leave this girl… anywhere she could be found,” she added.
Under the Georgia Safe Places for Newborns Act, mothers cannot be criminally charged if they leave their baby with volunteers or staff at a medical center, or at a fire or police station, according to the Georgia Department of Human Services.
Georgia law applies to children 30 days or younger.
The sheriff’s office’s investigation found Jiwani had a history of “concealed and concealed pregnancies and surprise births,” Freeman said, adding that digital evidence indicated she had known about this particular pregnancy for a long time and “went to extreme lengths to hide it.” “.
“There is no evidence, at this time, that the father had knowledge of either the pregnancy or the abandonment of the baby,” the sheriff added.
Freeman would not elaborate on Baby India’s current condition on Friday, but said she was “happy, healthy and in a safe place.”
‘s Jacob Lev and Susan Scutti contributed to this report.
