NEW ROADS - Just before noon, on Christmas Eve, police from New Roads arrested Kyandrea Thomas.

Thomas is accused of giving birth in a Walmart bathroom, then dumping her newborn baby in a bathroom trash can before leaving the store.

Thomas was arrested after she checked herself in to Lane Memorial Hospital, in Zachary.

Around 8:00 p.m. Friday, New Roads Police and District 5 firefighters responded to reports of an unresponsive baby left in the Walmart bathroom on Hospital Rd.

Firefighters performed CPR on the little girl in the bathroom before rushing her to Pointe Coupee General Hospital - a couple hundred yards away from Walmart - in serious condition.

By 10:15 p.m., doctors said the infant was stable but in critical condition right before paramedics flew the little girl by helicopter to Our Lady of The Lake Children's Hospital in Baton Rouge.

Detectives spent the better part of an hour interviewing witnesses and watching surveillance video before identifying a person of interest.

Their investigation brought them to Lane Memorial where they made an arrest.

"There are places all over where a person can bring a baby," New Roads Police Lt. Shael Stringer said. "They can drop them off at the hospital, they can drop them off at the police department... It's hard when people have resources in these circumstances and they choose to have the baby and leave it in the bathroom of Walmart."