‘Perplexing’: No criminal charges after 4 babies found in freezer in Boston apartment, DA says

BOSTON — No criminal charges will be filed in connection with a “perplexing” investigation into the discovery of four babies in a freezer inside the former Boston home of a woman who “concealed her pregnancies,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced Tuesday.

“This investigation, which is one of the most complex, unusual, and perplexing that this office has ever encountered, is now complete. While we have some answers, there are many elements of this case that will likely never be answered,” Hayden said in a statement.

Officers responding to a 911 call from a couple about a possible baby in a freezer inside 838 East Broadway in South Boston on the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2022, discovered multiple frozen babies inside an apartment where Alexis Aldamir once lived, according to investigators.

“We will never know exactly where or when the four babies found in Alexis Aldamir’s apartment were born,” Hayden added. “We will never know if the four babies were born alive, and we will never know exactly what happened to them. We will never know how Alexis Aldamir concealed her pregnancies, or why she chose to do so.”

Two female babies and two male babies, all of whom were siblings, were found frozen solid in shoe boxes wrapped in tin foil, according to investigators. All four had their umbilical cords attached and the two females had their placentas attached.

The state medical examiner reported that there was ”no scientific method” to determine how long the babies had been frozen and an autopsy found no signs of internal or external trauma and no evidence of obvious injuries. Hayden’s office also noted that there were no signs of food, milk, or formula inside the babies’ stomachs. The medical examiner found the cause of death for all the babies to be “undetermined.”

Investigators later determined that the apartment was owned and occupied by Aldamir, 69, who moved with her family from Maryland to Amherst in 1971 when she was a teenager. Records show that Aldamir purchased the South Boston apartment in October 1983, and likely started living in the apartment as early as April 1982.

Aldamir was tracked to a residential healthcare facility and investigators eventually gained a court order to obtain a DNA sample. The DNA results showed that Aldamir is the mother of all four babies, according to Hayden’s office.

Co-workers of Aldamir, who was employed by an accounting firm in Boston from March 1980 to October 2021, described her as a “heavy-set woman who had a penchant for wearing loose-fitting clothing regardless of the season.”

Additional DNA testing revealed that the father of all four babies had died in 2011 and that Aldamir had given birth to one baby girl in April 1982, investigators noted.

In determining whether any crimes surrounding the discovery of the frozen babies could be proved, investigators say they considered the following:

• “First, to charge any homicide, there must be evidence that the victims were alive. There must also be a cause of death determined by the medical examiner. In this case, investigators cannot prove that the babies were ever alive and they have no cause or manner of death.”
• “Second, the autopsy found no signs of internal or external trauma to the babies and no evidence of obvious injuries.”
• “Third, as the father is now deceased, he can not be charged with any crimes.”

When Aldamir was later questioned about the babies found in her apartment, she “appeared confused and demonstrated a lack of understanding about where she was and who she was speaking to,” according to investigators.

“To further assess Aldamir’s cognitive ability, investigators reviewed publicly available probate court records and spoke with a lawyer for Aldemir. The information obtained suggests strongly that Aldamir would be unlikely to stand trial,” Hayden’s office explained. “A prosecutor’s office cannot ethically move forward with a case that, in good faith, it believes it cannot bring to trial...Therefore, this investigation will not result in criminal charges.”

The Boston Police Department Homicide Unit and Crime Laboratory assisted Hayden’s Office with the investigation.

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