The young woman arrested for kidnapping the newborn from Basurto Hospital was so obsessed with being a mother that she had announced to her relatives that she was pregnant
Mireia, a 24-year-old from Bilbao, became the night of Wednesday in the most wanted woman Euskadi. The Ertzaintza found her yesterday morning, eleven hours after a newborn baby will be taken from Basurto Hospital. Accused of an alleged crime of kidnapping, the young woman disguised herself as a health worker to enter the maternity ward and take Aimar, a two-day-old baby, from a room. We will have to wait for the judicial and police investigation to find out why Mireia – with a police record for theft, injuries and threats – did what she did. Everything points to a possible mental health disorder.
Mireia was obsessed with being a mother. So much so that she had bought newborn clothes, a stroller and a crib
Mireia was obsessed with being a mother. So much so that she had bought newborn clothes, a stroller and a crib. Months ago she had told her boyfriend and her friends that she was pregnant, according to what was published this Friday by ‘El Correo’, that she spreads a terrifying image: the one Mireia made making faces at Aimar a few hours after robbing him. The young woman sent it to a few friends to announce that she had given birth.
“We are not going to separate from Aimar until he is 30 years old”
Laura and Paco, Aimar’s parents, today pose happily on the cover of the Bilbao newspaper. Father of another older daughter, they announce, laughing, that they will not be separated from their baby until he turns 30 and they comment that Aimar will always have two birthdays: the day he was born and the day the police handed him over to his parents after a few nightmarish hours.
The horror film began at midnight on Wednesday night, when Mireia, dressed in the white uniform of Osakidetza (the Basque health service), entered the room where Laura was resting with her baby. Mireia, as explained yesterday by the Security Councilor, Josu Erkoreka, he had tried to steal other babies in other rooms since six in the evening.
Precedents in San Sebastian
The health protocol in Euskadi orders that all newborns must leave the room accompanied by a parent or authorized relative. The regulations were approved in June 2014, after a 36-year-old woman tried to kidnap a newborn at Donostia Hospital, where a similar case had occurred two years ago.
The health protocol in Euskadi orders that all newborns must leave the room accompanied by a parent or authorized relative
After several frustrated attempts, the alleged thief entered Laura’s room, who did not suspect her. Since it was taking so long, she began to worry. She and her husband asked those responsible for the hospital, but no one could tell them where Aimar was. Pedro notified a taxi driver to alert all his colleagues through the station and the Basque police began a deployment around the city. The authorities spread the images of the thief captured by the Basurto security cameras on social networks and asked for citizen collaboration.
Formula milk and bottles
At that time, Mireia – who after leaving the hospital bought formula and bottles at a pharmacy – was at a friend’s house. She told him that she had just given birth and that she had nowhere to stay. The friend did not suspect and welcomed her into her home. It was she who took the photos with the newborn.
After spending the night at her friend’s house, Mireia decided to run away because Aimar’s kidnapping was already front page news. Once on the street, she went to a nearby apartment building and left the baby on the doormat on an eighth floor. She rang the bell and ran away. The owner of the house, when she opened the door, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She had just heard and read the news, so it was clear to her: It’s the baby they’ve stolen.
? Statements from the neighbor’s son who found the kidnapped baby last night at Basurto Hospital pic.twitter.com/eD6H25LE5S
– Boulevard Radio Euskadi (@Boulevardeitb) October 20, 2022
In statements to journalists, the son of the owner of the house commented that the little boy was in perfect condition, clean and intact. The woman, Alicia, became nervous and quickly called 112. The agents took a few minutes to arrive. “My mother was hysterical and attacked, but everything went well. The baby was very calm, almost asleep,” explained the young man, who insisted that neither he nor his mother saw the alleged thief.
The doctors went to Alicia’s house and contacted Pedro and Laura to give them the best news of their lives: their baby was safe and sound. Calm, well dressed, fed and in perfect condition.
The last piece of the puzzle was missing: finding Mireia. The Ertzaintza combed everything Bilbao. The call to the agents of some neighbors was definitive, who warned that they had just seen the alleged thief near a pediment in a park with another person. She was indeed Mireia.
Once arrested, the young woman will go to court. After two days of horror, now the agents and the judges will have to determine what happened and why it happened.
The other question – how could it happen – has an easier explanation. Despite the protocols, the reality is that Basurto is a very large hospital, with four main entrances and where, in reality, anyone can enter. In statements to ‘El Correo’, a nurse made it clear that the healthcare professionals are there to take care of the health of patients and not to control visits.