She was charged with aggravated murder, obstruction of justice and abuse or desecration of a dead human body in September 2023, after allegedly abandoning the body of her newborn son in Parleys Canyon.
According to Heber City Police, the Wasatch County woman, now 19, gave birth to a premature baby who needed oxygen to survive in August 2023.
In the weeks after she brought her son home from the hospital, police responded to multiple reports that the baby wasn’t breathing, his mother didn’t bring him to doctor’s appointments, and she wasn’t giving him the oxygen he needed.
Police found internet searches on Meza-Ojeda’s phone including “taking a baby’s life” and “how much time will I serve in prison for killing my baby.”
She told officers she didn’t give her baby oxygen because the tube was bothering him. She said she realized the boy had died, wrapped his body in a blanket and left it along the road in Parleys Canyon.
On Wednesday morning, Feb. 5, Meza-Ojeda returned to 4th District Court, where her murder charge was reduced to attempted murder, also a first-degree felony. She pleaded no contest to the attempted murder charge, and she pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and desecration of a body.
She will serve three years in the Wasatch County jail, with no possibility of reduced time for good behavior and no credit for time already spent in jail. After that, she will be on probation for four years and required to get mental health treatment if she remains in the United States.
Judge Jennifer Mabey said the sentence ensures Meza-Ojeda will serve the maximum time the judge can impose.
“While it seems as though this is a minimal outcome, it actually ensures that the defendant serves more time, perhaps, than if I were to send her to prison, but allows for that time to be served in a manner that takes into consideration her particular circumstances with her age and her status within the country,” she said.
Because Meza-Ojeda entered the U.S. without legal permission, there’s also an immigration hold on her. That means the county will notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement before she’s released from jail, and ICE will take her into custody.
If Mabey sent Meza-Ojeda to state prison instead of jail, it’s possible she would be deported before serving her time.
