Parents of missing Florida baby arrested in NC on manslaughter charge, sheriff says
A South Florida couple accused in the manslaughter of their baby has been captured in rural North Carolina, according to investigators.
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Leon Alejandro, Jr., 21, and Samantha Angeline Feliz, 20, were arrested Wednesday at a rural home in the 900 block of Ledbetter Road near Rockingham, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 22 news release.
They are being held as “fugitives of justice” at the Richmond County Jail until they can be returned to Hollywood, Florida, officials said. Hollywood is about a 20-mile drive north from downtown Miami.
“Sometime between December 6, 2024 and January 5, 2025, Feliz gave birth to their child. The birth was concealed and occurred somewhere other than a hospital,” the sheriff’s office said.
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“During the child’s first month of life, other family members saw the couple with the baby. After that, the baby was never seen again, and both parents denied that the child was theirs, claiming it was a prank. … The two fled to Richmond County and were living on the property of a relative of Alejandro’s.”
Richmond County investigators partnered with the United States Marshals Service to make the arrest, officials said.
Alejandro and Feliz have been charged in Florida with:
Investigators say no official birth certificate nor medical records have been found for the infant.
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Rockingham is about a 70-mile drive southeast from uptown Charlotte.
This story was originally published July 23, 2026 at 12:06 PM.
