Authorities have identified the alleged kidnapper of a newborn girl as a registered neurologist who is also a professor at two universities in Brazil.
Dr Claudia Alves, 42, was arrested at her home on Wednesday morning in Itambura, Goiás, after she allegedly tricked a family into stealing their baby, before stuffing her in a backpack and escaping the hospital in the middle of the night.
The newborn baby was reunited with her parents at a hospital later that day.
Alves managed to kidnap the baby just three hours after her birth when he entered the parents’ room at the Federal University Hospital Clinic in Uberlândia and identified himself as a pediatrician who was there to feed her daughter, it is alleged.
The hospital’s surveillance camera showed the doctor carrying the baby, who was covered with a blanket, and then returning to her car before driving 83 miles to her residence in Itambura.
Dr Claudia Alves, a registered neurologist and university professor, was arrested on Wednesday morning for the kidnapping of a newborn girl, just over three hours after she was born in a hospital in the state of Minas Gerais, in southeastern Brazil, on Tuesday night.
Authorities recovered diapers and other accessories that Dr. Claudia Alves had hidden in the trunk of her car after she was arrested at her home on Wednesday morning and found the newborn baby she kidnapped from the hospital in good health.
Dr. Claudia Alves was seen on a surveillance camera carrying the newborn baby girl out of her parents’ bedroom before fleeing in a car. Alves, according to the baby’s father, said she was going to feed her milk after telling the mother she had no milk to breastfeed her.
According to the newspaper O Tempo, Alves left the baby at home with her maid. One police unit took the baby to a local medical center while another remained near the residence and arrested Alves when he returned.
Isabella Inácio told Metrópoles that the baby has a heart condition and will require special care.
Uberlândia Civil Police Chief Marcos Brandão said the baby is in good health.
“He was tested and is doing well. There are no signs of abuse,” Brandão was quoted as saying by Brazilian media outlet G1.
Goiás Civil Police said Alves told arresting officers that she was sick and was taking medication.
However, Civil Police Chief Anderson Pelágio told TV Anhanguera that they doubted his claims because Alves had bought clothes and accessories for the baby before the kidnapping.
New details have revealed that Alves’ car was packed with baby items, including pink clothes and changing bags full of diapers.
Uberlândia Civil Police chief Marcos Brandão told FM O Tempo 91.7 radio that investigators learned of Alves’ whereabouts after a camera took her photo after she failed to pay a toll on the highway.
Inside her home, she also had a pink baby bathtub, a stroller, a baby car seat, as well as formula to feed a newborn baby and pink Disney toys.
“She purchased several items for the baby, including diapers and a stroller, suggesting she planned the events,” police said. “She did not show any motivation or whether she was going to keep the baby, register it in her name or give it to a third party.”
Alves was charged with kidnapping and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted, because the victim is under 18.
Police said the newborn is in good health and “doing well” after being located Wednesday morning.
Surveillance video showed the suspect exiting a red vehicle at 11:18 p.m. wearing a lab coat, cap, mask, gloves and carrying a yellow backpack as she walked toward the clinic Tuesday.
At 11:46 p.m., the woman was seen walking with a hospital worker with the baby in her backpack.
Nine minutes passed before CCTV showed her walking towards the car with the baby in one of her hands before speeding away.
The baby’s father, Edson Ferreira, previously told the station that Alves went to his room where his daughter and his wife were recovering after the cesarean delivery at 8 p.m.
Like the security guards, they were ‘fooled’ by the woman’s behaviour during the five minutes she was in the room.
Brazilian authorities believe doctor Claudia Alves had planned to kidnap a baby from a hospital after discovering diapers, a stroller and other baby accessories in the trunk of her car.
He recalled that Alves touched his wife’s breasts to check if she could breastfeed and then told her he would take the child to feed her milk.
“It’s a relief to see my daughter again,” Ferreira said. “There’s no price I can pay. I hope justice is done, that this woman is really arrested and that this never happens to anyone else again.”
On his social media, Alves says that he has been teaching part-time at the Federal University of Uberlândia since May.
She also listed that she is a full-time professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the State University of Goiás since 2019.
Dr. Claudia Alves was arrested on Wednesday for the kidnapping of a newborn baby at a hospital in Uberlândia, Brazil. Alves is also a professor at two universities
Dr. Claudia Alves was seen on a security camera carrying the newborn girl to her car
She said she earned her medical degree from the Federal University of Uberlândia in the Triângulo Mineiro in 2004 and did her residency in clinical medicine at the school in 2007.
Later in 2011, Alves completed his residency in neurology at the same university.
“Medicine is a roller coaster of emotions. It has its ups and downs, its challenges and its victories, but one thing is certain: I love what I do,” she wrote on her profile.
The Federal University Hospital Clinic of Uberlândia is investigating the incident.