Miscarry ‘slay-nap’

A woman who was hiding a recent miscarriage from her family fatally stabbed a mother and abducted her infant daughter, Houston police said Thursday.

Erika Jisela Miranda-Alvarez, 28, is charged with murder in the death of 33year-old Carolina Flores, police said. Miranda-Alvarez had known Flores for about five years.

Miranda-Alvarez concealed her miscarriage from family and claimed she had just returned from the hospital after giving birth, police said.

“The woman was due to have a baby in January, and she lost that baby,” Police Chief Art Acevedo said.

Flores’ body was discovered at around midday Tuesday. Investigators early Thursday led police to a Houston apartment complex where they happened to spot a couple holding a baby, Acevedo said.

They determined Miran- da-Alvarez was holding 6week-old Shamali Flores. The baby was not harmed.

Miranda-Alvarez was being held without bond. Online jail records don’t indicate she has an attorney who can comment on her behalf.

The suspect’s boyfriend has not been charged, and Acevedo said it appears he wasn’t aware of the miscarriage.

The baby was evaluated at a hospital and is in the custody of state Child Protective Services.

Police officials at a news conference Wednesday had said the person who took Shamali likely knew her family. They also said it’s possible the girl was taken by someone who had lost a child.

Acevedo on Thursday credited Houston police and the FBI with using that theory to help direct the course of the investigation.

“Everything our investigators theorized turned out to be true,” he said.