Woman faked an entire pregnancy for nine months before walking out of hospital with a newborn in a gift bag
Warning: This article contains discussion of baby loss which some readers may find distressing.
A woman faked an entire pregnancy for nine months, convinced her husband and family she was expecting a baby, then walked out of the hospital with a newborn hidden inside a gift bag.
The bizarre true-crime story of Alejandra Marín Mendoza is now the subject of Netflix’s new documentary A Child of My Own, landing on Thursday (13 August).
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi, the film explores the extraordinary lengths Alejandra went to in order to become a mother, and the disturbing moment her elaborate lie turned into a real-life crime.
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Alejandra had sadly already suffered three miscarriages and, according to the doc, faced intense pressure from her husband Arturo and his family to have a child.
She then began building an entirely fictional pregnancy around herself, gaining weight by eating more food, attending pregnancy yoga classes, faking ultrasound scans and even throwing herself a baby shower, all while maintaining the illusion that she was carrying her husband's baby.
And somehow, the deception became so convincing that Alejandra appeared to start believing it herself.
Alberdi says she wasn't simply putting on an act for the people around her. She genuinely wanted to live the pregnancy she had imagined, with the filmmaker describing her state of mind as resembling a psychological pregnancy.
"If you see the archive footage, it’s not a fat woman, it’s a pregnant woman," she explained via the Guardian. "So it’s like she did have a psychological pregnancy. She wanted to believe, and at some point, she was living that lie."
The story takes an even darker turn when Alejandra, who worked in hospital administration, met a pregnant woman named Mayra.
Alejandra claimed Mayra had agreed to give her the baby, but Mayra's testimony and court evidence disputed that version of events.
Alejandra ultimately posed as a social worker, took Mayra's newborn from the maternity ward and left the hospital with the baby concealed in a gift bag, with CCTV capturing her walking out of the building before she was arrested at a hotel hours later.
The baby was returned to Mayra, while Alejandra was eventually sentenced to 13 years in prison for child kidnapping.
What makes A Child of My Own particularly strange is that it isn't really a traditional true-crime 'whodunnit' mystery.
We know relatively early what Alejandra did, but the bigger mystery is what she believed herself, and how a lie sustained for months could become so psychologically real.
A Child of My Own is currently available to stream on Netflix.
A timeline of the real story behind A Child of My Own
2000
Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza marries Arturo Calderón Gamiño aged 17. She is already pregnant, but suffers a miscarriage. Two later pregnancies also end in miscarriage.
2002
Mendoza starts working at General Hospital Mexico in the obstetrics and gynaecology department.
2008
After suffering her third miscarriage, Mendoza conceals it from her husband and begins faking a pregnancy.
She binge eats junk food to fake her baby bump, and her weight increases from 8.5 stone (54kg) to 14 stone (89kg).
Since she works at General Hospital Mexico, she adjusts her medical records. She even holds a baby shower for friends and family and tells them the baby is due on 17 June 2009.
January 2009
Mendoza later claims to meet a pregnant woman called Mayra Navarro in the maternity clinic who didn’t want to keep her own baby. Mendoza claims she persuades her to carry the baby to term and give it to her.
According to local outlet El Siglo de Torreon, she says: "We talked during a consultation. She said she was a single mother, that it was her second child, by a different father, and that she wanted to terminate the pregnancy."
Navarro denies this, and says she met Mendoza for the first time after giving birth five months later.
17 June 2009
11.51am - Mendoza is seen on CCTV entering General Hospital Mexico
2.30pm - Navarro’s baby Katia Valentina is born
6.38pm - Mendoza exits with Navarro’s newborn in a gift bag. Arturo is waiting for her outside.
Navarro tells local outlet El Universal: “[Mendoza] was going from room to room conducting a survey, but she always came back to my room. One time, when I went to the bathroom to get some samples, I came back, but the girl was gone.”
Arturo allegedly only learns the pregnancy was faked when Eleanor hands him the stolen baby.
Police catch up with the couple after tracing calls to their parents’ home, with one leading them to the Hollywood Hotel in the Agrícola Oriental neighbourhood.
Eleanor and Arturo Mendoza are surrounded by police while they’re sleeping at the hotel and arrested hours after leaving the hospital.
Katia Valentina is found still wearing a hospital bracelet and is returned to her mother.
20 June 2009
Eleanor and Arturo are charged with illegal deprivation of liberty of a minor.
Eleanor is later sentenced to over 13 years in prison.
2011
After spending two years in jail, Arturo is acquitted of involvement in his wife’s crime.
2023
Eleanor Mendoza is released from jail.
If you need support and advice following a pregnancy loss, you can contact the Tommy’s team at [email protected]. You can also call them for free on 0800 014 7800, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Topics: Pregnancy, TV And Film, Netflix, True Crime, Real Life
Rhiannon Ingle