Mom accused of abandoning newborn son regains custody

Mar. 25—Alexandra Eckersley has been given custody of her 1-year-old son after being accused of abandoning the newborn in the cold in Manchester in December 2022.

Eckersley held the boy as she waited to appear in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester on Friday. The hearing on motions was rescheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Eckersley, 27, is accused of giving birth to a son in a tent near the West Side Ice Arena in Manchester late on Christmas night and abandoning him, then misleading rescue workers about the tent's location in temperatures below 20 degrees.

First responders described the infant's skin as "white and purple/blue still wet from birth with an unclamped umbilical cord." The infant struggled to breathe and had hypothermia, according to court records.

Eckersley, the adopted daughter of former Red Sox pitching great Dennis Eckersley and his second wife, Nancy, is charged with reckless conduct, second-degree assault, and endangering the welfare of a child.

A trial is set to begin in July.

The mother and son were fully reunited this year after Eckersley went through required residential treatment, counseling and sober-living programs, said her public defender Kim Kossick.

"She is continuing to be sober, and living her life as a regular person," Kossick said in a phone interview.

The defense argues that the state's "version of events" omits the fact Eckersley spent approximately 12 minutes on the phone with the 911 operator.

"She called 911, then got arrested," Kossick said. "She told the 911 operator where the baby was."

On Dec. 26, 2022, Eckersley led officers on a frantic search for her son for "nearly an hour," before leading them to the newborn, according to police. Authorities in an affidavit described Eckersley as likely on drugs, unsteady on her feet and thrashing from side to side as they tried to get her to say where the baby was.

The child, born three months early, was brought to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.

The defense hopes to have expert witness Dr. Mathilde Pelaprat testify "Ms. Eckersley's complex mental health history and background will help the jury understand her behavior and decision making on the night in question."

Prosecutors with the Hillsborough County Attorney's office have objected to Pelaprat's testimony, saying Eckersley began fabricating stories when EMTs arrived to help, including vague and changing details on where the baby was located.

The state "goes out of its way to portray her as a thoughtless, intentionally cruel person," the defense said in a February court filing.

Kossick said Eckersley was suffering a "very dangerous" medical emergency after having given birth alone.

"We've maintained from the very beginning this was not a crime," she said.