Police said the 18-year-old mother returned to the downtown bus stop after handing her infant son to someone she had just met.
SAN ANTONIO, TX — An 18-year-old woman faces a child abandonment charge after police said she handed her infant son to a stranger at a downtown San Antonio bus stop and told the person she no longer wanted the child.
Karla Ibarra was arrested Sunday night after returning to the area where the baby had been left, according to San Antonio police and court records cited in local reports. The person who received the child contacted police, leading officers to respond to the downtown area. Child Protective Services later said the boy was with relatives.
Police reports and local accounts place the encounter at a bus stop along Broadway in downtown San Antonio, although published reports differ slightly on the precise intersection and time. The San Antonio Express-News, citing a police report, said the incident happened shortly before 11 p.m. in the 200 block of Broadway near Travis Park. Other reports citing police described the location as near Broadway and East Travis Street and placed the police response later in the night.
According to police, Ibarra met the other person at the bus stop and gave that person her child. The person told officers that Ibarra said she no longer wanted the baby. Authorities have not publicly released a detailed account explaining what led to the encounter or why Ibarra allegedly decided to hand over the child.
Ibarra returned to the area a short time later, police said. Officers were already at the scene, and she was arrested. Bexar County court records cited by the Express-News list a charge of abandoning a child with intent to return. A judge set bail at $7,000, according to the newspaper. The charge is an allegation, and the available records do not establish that Ibarra has been convicted.
Reports identified the child as Ibarra’s son and said he is younger than 1. Police did not publicly release the child’s name. Child Protective Services told KSAT that the boy was with relatives after the incident. Authorities have not released further information about his condition or disclosed additional details about the family’s circumstances.
The case also comes under a Texas legal framework intended to give parents of very young infants a safe alternative to abandonment. The state’s Safe Haven law, commonly called the Baby Moses Law, allows a parent to voluntarily surrender an unharmed infant who is 60 days old or younger to a designated emergency infant care provider. State law identifies locations including hospitals, certain emergency medical facilities, fire departments and emergency medical services providers.
Under the law, a qualifying infant may be delivered to an authorized provider without the usual consequences associated with abandonment when the statutory requirements are met. Texas family resources also state that a parent using the Safe Haven process may remain anonymous. The publicly available reports in Ibarra’s case describe her son only as younger than 1, and they do not establish that he was 60 days old or younger when the incident occurred.
San Antonio police said the investigation into what led to the incident was continuing. No additional charges or findings about Ibarra’s motive had been publicly announced in the reports reviewed as of Wednesday, and authorities had not released further details about the child’s placement beyond the statement that he was with relatives.
Author note: Last updated September 16, 2026.