DUBLIN — A Colorado woman has been released from jail while she defends herself from charges that she drowned her newborn baby in a bathtub back in 2009, then left the girl’s corpse in a dumpster.
Judge Michael Risher granted a defense motion for bail on Oct. 7, setting 46-year-old Angela Onduto’s bail at $125,000 and paving the way for her release from jail, after she surrendered her passport. Onduto was released from Dublin’s Santa Rita Jail and her attorney said in court filings she plans to return to Colorado but will make her planned court appearances.
Dueling bail motions by Onduto’s attorney and the Alameda County District Attorney’s office — which opposed Onduto’s release — offer even more heart-wrenching details to an already deeply intense and personal murder case. Onduto’s lawyer wrote in a motion how Onduto began “drinking heavily” in 2009, after a divorce, and fell into a state of “denial and avoidance” after an unintended pregnancy.
“She eventually went into labor in her apartment in Union City and labored alone, for hours, overnight in her bathroom,” the motion says. “Ms. Onduto is alleged to have drowned the infant immediately after its birth. She then placed the deceased infant into the dumpster of her apartment complex.”
Onduto is not a flight risk, the motion argues, because after police interviewed her in last June, she remained in the area for several days, despite knowing she’d likely be charged with murder. Prosecutors filed the case in July and she was extradited to the Bay Area soon after, court records show. At the time of her arrest, she was working as a physical therapy assistant.
“Nothing about the alleged crime indicates that there is an ongoing danger to the public,” Deputy Public Defender Sydney Levin wrote in court filings.
In their opposition motion, prosecutors said Onduto admitted to keeping a subsequent pregnancy from her spouse, in 2017, and leaving that newborn outside of an East Bay fire station. In 2009, she “had nine months to seek out alternative solutions, including abortion, adoption, or safely surrendering the infant at a fire station,” but “chose to drown and dispose of the infant instead,” minutes after giving birth the prosecution motion says.
“The defendant admitted to hearing the infant making noise and moving around prior to the drowning. The defendant’s roommate was sleeping in the living room and apparently never woke during the incident. The defendant put her dead baby in a plastic bag and dumped her in the apartment dumpster,” the motion says. “Baby Jane Doe still had the umbilical cord attached. The defendant murdered the most vulnerable human being.”
Union City police gave the baby a name — Matea Esperanza — after her death, and posthumously adopted her. Onduto was identified as Matea’s mother through genetic genealogy, the same technique famously used to catch the Golden State Killer, whereby police use public databases to find relatives of a suspect.
Prosecutors disagreed with Onduto isn’t a public threat, citing a misdemeanor battery case she picked up shortly before her arrest. The charge was dismissed when Onduto was arrested in this case, and stemmed from an incident where she hit a patient who had allegedly spat on her, court records show.
“(Onduto) is facing significant prison time based on the charges, which places a tremendous amount of stress on a person and leads up unpredictable behavior,” Deputy District Attorney Colleen Clark wrote in court filings.