A newborn’s last photo allegedly showed ‘no signs of life,’ and authorities say the parents later claimed the baby never existed

Investigators in North Carolina have taken a Florida couple into custody after spending more than a year trying to determine what became of their infant, whom authorities believe is dead. According to the New York Post, officers picked up 21-year-old Leon Alejandro Jr. and 20-year-old Samantha Feliz midweek at a residence near Rockingham, North Carolina. Both are originally from Hollywood, Florida. Authorities say the pair had relocated there while Hollywood police continued working the case of their missing child.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and US Marshals made the arrest, and both suspects now sit in the county jail without bond as Florida works to bring them back for prosecution. Hollywood detectives opened their file on the case back in early 2025, after learning Feliz had apparently given birth at some point during a roughly month-long window: December 6, 2024, through January 5, 2025.

That detail comes from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, which also said the delivery itself was hidden from view and did not occur at any hospital. Relatives reportedly saw the newborn with her parents for roughly the first month after birth. From that point forward, according to investigators, nobody outside the couple ever laid eyes on the child again.

The last known photo told a different story

WPLG obtained the arrest warrant behind the case, and per that document, the last known photograph of the child, who is named in the warrant only as A.F., was taken on January 5, 2025. Investigators described the baby in that picture as “visibly ill and malnourished” and showing “no signs of life.” Cadaver dogs were brought in to search several properties tied to the couple, the warrant states, though no remains ever turned up.

WPLG’s reporting on the document also lays out how the parents responded when relatives began asking questions: first insisting the whole thing had been “a prank,” then shifting to a claim that the pregnancy itself was fabricated as part of a “hoax” to pull money from family. That explanation didn’t match the paper trail investigators found. The warrant points to photos clearly showing Feliz pregnant and to text exchanges between the couple discussing the child.

A storage unit connected to the couple reportedly held infant clothing, a test confirming Feliz’s pregnancy, and towels bearing what appeared to be bloodstains, and lab analysis of those items came back matching a biological child of both suspects. Investigators never recovered a birth certificate or any hospital paperwork for the baby, but prosecutors moved forward anyway.

Both Alejandro and Feliz now face five counts apiece: aggravated manslaughter of a child, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, failure to report a death to the medical examiner, providing false information concerning a missing child, and making false reports to law enforcement. Investigators eventually traced the pair to Richmond County, where a relative of Alejandro’s had let them stay, and took them into custody there on July 22.

Sheriff Mark Gulledge framed the arrest as a win for cooperation across jurisdictions: “This is a prime example of agencies nationwide collaborating to uphold justice,” he said in a statement. Something similar unfolded earlier this year, when a Florida couple faced a cover-up charge tied to their own baby’s death, landing several of the same counts now filed against Alejandro and Feliz. Investigators have kept quiet on what they think actually happened to the child, and court records don’t yet show either suspect entering a plea.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has not publicly responded to requests for further comment on the investigation.