Hospital worker jailed for faking pregnancy and abduction

Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza, known as Alejandra, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for faking a pregnancy and abducting a newborn baby. The incident, which saw Mendoza take a baby girl just hours old from a hospital, is now documented in the Netflix film 'A Child of My Own'.

A Stranger Than Fiction Account

The documentary's director, Maite Alberdi, initially heard Alejandra's account of events while visiting her in a Mexican prison. Alejandra claimed she had a deal with the baby's mother, Mayra, to take the child after birth. However, upon reviewing court transcripts, Alberdi discovered significant discrepancies between Alejandra's narrative and the official evidence.

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Court documents indicated that Mayra never had an arrangement with Alejandra. Instead, Mayra stated that Alejandra posed as a social worker and abducted the infant from her hospital cot. Police arrested Alejandra hours later at a hotel, and the baby was safely returned to Mayra.

Alberdi admitted to being shocked by the evidence, stating, "When I saw the evidence, I thought: ‘Oh no, I was so wrong.’ I crashed into reality." She considered abandoning the film but ultimately decided to proceed, focusing on the underlying pressures that led Alejandra to such extreme actions. Alejandra has consistently denied the court's findings.

Telenovela Style Depiction

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The film 'A Child of My Own' reconstructs Alejandra's version of events in the style of a Mexican telenovela. Alberdi chose this approach because of the melodramatic nature of Alejandra's storytelling. The director suggested that Alejandra's desire to have a child was so strong that she may have psychologically believed she was pregnant, a phenomenon known as a phantom pregnancy.

Alberdi highlighted the intense social pressure on women in Mexico and Latin America to marry and have children, suggesting this was a key factor in Alejandra's actions. The film also features interviews with Alejandra's husband, Arturo, who was also arrested and imprisoned before being acquitted, the trial judge, a psychologist, and Mayra, the baby's mother, whose trauma remains profound.

The baby, now a teenager, was also interviewed, though her testimony was ultimately omitted from the final cut to avoid causing her distress or labelling her as a victim.