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A woman has been arrested after a newborn baby was found dead in a bathtub in Smith County, authorities said Friday night.

Around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a local emergency room about a woman — 27-year-old Esmeralda Duran Rodriguez — who said she “had delivered a placenta in her home a short time earlier, but did not bring an infant with her.”

Deputies went out to the home, located in northern central part of the county, and contacted Rodriguez’s brother, who gave the deputies consent to search for a baby.

Deputies found the placenta on the bed along with blood and a severed umbilical cord. At first, they didn’t see a baby, but they kept looking.

Soon, a dead infant was located in a bathtub “wrapped inside a towel which had been further secreted in a tied plastic grocery bag,” the sheriff’s office said.

Detectives and crime scene investigators came out to the home and conducted interviews and collected evidence.

An interview was also conducted with Esmeralda Rodriguez. Investigators determined that Rodriguez allegedly did not inform anyone that she had delivered a baby, nor did she attempt to call for any assistance for the baby.

Based on these facts and information being provided to law enforcement, probable cause existed for the arrest of this Rodriguez. A probable cause affidavit was drafted by detectives and presented to the 114th State District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson charging the woman with the criminal offense of abuse of a corpse, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in jail.

The body of the infant along with the placenta was delivered to Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science (SWIFS) in Dallas for an autopsy and to determine if the infant was alive at the time of delivery. Detectives are awaiting the outcome of the autopsy and, if the infant was found to be alive at birth, charges could be upgraded, the sheriff’s office said.

This continues to be an active investigation. More information will be disseminated as it becomes available for release.