CONCORD, NH — The trial of the daughter of baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley began Thursday on charges she abandoned her baby after giving birth in the woods in subzero temperatures on Christmas Eve 2022.
Lawyers for Alexandra Eckersley, 27, said she did not know she was pregnant, believed the child had died and suffered from a substance use disorder and mental health problems.
She was homeless at the time and gave birth in a tent in New Hampshire. Prosecutors say her son was left alone for more than an hour as temperatures dropped to minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 9.4 degrees Celsius) and he suffered from respiratory failure and hypothermia.
Alexandra Eckersley has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, reckless endangerment, falsifying evidence and endangering the welfare of a child.
She was bleeding heavily and thought she had miscarried, defense attorney Jordan Strand said during opening statements in the Manchester trial. A friend who was with her said the baby had no pulse, Strand said.
“She was in a heightened emotional state, not thinking clearly and suffering from symptoms of her bipolar disorder,” a condition she was diagnosed with as a child, Strand said.
Strand said the couple had no cell phone service to call for help and began walking toward an ice rink. Along the way, Alexandra Eckersley suffered from the afterbirth, but she thought she was having a second child. She told a 911 dispatcher she had given birth to two children, one of whom had lived less than a minute and the other had died instantly, Strand said.
She told the dispatcher and police where she lived and pointed to the area, which was across a bridge. But police ignored what she told them, Strand said. She also was afraid to return to the tent because her boyfriend, who had left when police arrived, told her he didn’t want anyone else there, Strand said.
The man arrested along with Alexandra Eckersley was sentenced to a year in prison last August after pleading guilty to child abuse. She was expected to testify at her trial.
According to prosecutor Alexander Gatzoulis, Eckersley deliberately led the emergency workers to another location because she did not want to get into trouble.
“Almost an hour after she gave birth, she told them for the first time a new fact: the baby cried when she gave birth,” Gatzoulis said. “It completely changed the landscape of the search and increased everyone’s sense of urgency, because now they were looking for a baby, not a body.”
Eventually, she led police to the tent. The baby was found cold, blue, covered in blood — but alive, Gatzoulis said.
He said the defense is allowed to discuss Alexandra Eckersley’s mental illness, “but that does not negate her deliberate actions here in lying about where the baby was and leading the search team away from her child for well over an hour.”
She has been full time living since the beginning of this year with her son and family in Massachusetts.
The Eckersley family released a statement shortly after her arrest, saying they had no prior knowledge of her pregnancy and were in complete shock. The family said she has suffered from a “serious mental illness” her entire life and that they have done their utmost to offer her help and support.
Dennis Eckersley was drafted by Cleveland out of high school in 1972 and pitched 24 seasons for Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Oakland and St. Louis. He won the AL Cy Young and MVP awards in 1992 while playing for the Oakland Athletics. After his active career, Eckersley retired from broadcasting Boston Red Sox games in 2022.
