Mother, 25, who gave birth in below-freezing temperatures in a garage to her fourth child 'left her "dirty little secret" to die'

A woman let her newborn die in a garage rather than allow him to go into foster care, a Detroit-area prosecuting attorney says.

The allegation against Angela Alexie came on Wednesday during opening arguments in her trial on murder and child abuse charges in Macomb County Circuit Court.

Authorities accuse the 25-year-old, who has three other children in foster care, of giving birth in an Eastpointe garage three days before Christmas Day 2014 and leaving the boy - whose body was discovered at a nearby recycling center three weeks later.

Detroit-area prosecutor William Cataldo (left) told a jury in opening statements on Wednesday that Angela Alexie (right), 25, let her son die instead of taking him to foster care

The baby was named by authorities as Henry Alexander Macomb, after the county's namesake, Gen Alexander Macomb. Alexie said she would have named him Robert.

'To Angela Alexie, that wasn't a child, it was a dirty little secret,' Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo told a Macomb County Circuit Court jury during opening statements, according to The Detroit Free Press.

Cataldo said Alexie saw the child as 'a road block to her social life', adding that Alexie hid the pregnancy and 'knows about abandonment' by not being involved in her other children's lives.

He explained how Alexie cut the umbilical cord with her teeth, wrapped him in a towel and T-shirt and left him on the dirty ground behind a mattress as she returned to the home that went with the detached garage.

Alexie claims she checked on him every couple of hours and tried to breastfeed him, but two days after his birth, Alexie found the boy was dead.

On Christmas Eve Alexie posted on Facebook 'RIP Baby', which in 2015 she claimed referred to someone else's child.

Cataldo told jurors that Alexie put the baby's body into a garbage bag, but it is unknown who put the bag in the recycling bin.

'She let this child die,' Cataldo said, adding that she could have contacted Child Protective Services, as Michigan has a safe haven law, which allows parents to legally give newborns no more than three days old over to a staff member of a hospital, fire station or police station without fear of reprisals.

Angela Alexie (pictured last year) faces murder and child abuse charges after her newborn son died in an Eastpointe, Michigan, garage on Christmas Eve 2014

Cataldo told jurors that the newborn died of environmental hypothermia and parental neglect. During the time the baby was in the garage, temperatures reached as low as 24F. 

He said that Alexie sent a text soon after the baby was born show her asking someone which bar they were meeting at and took photos that showed her weight loss after the baby's birth.

'I’ve lost 20 pounds in 2-1/2 weeks,' Alexie texted, according to Cataldo, the Macomb Daily News reported. 'There’s clothes but I look sexy.'

'Nine days after the child died she’s sending out selfies as if she’s in Oprah’s Weight Watchers,' he added. 

Defense attorney Steve Kaplan counters Alexie has 'cognitive challenges', adding that she would be the 'last person' to be a babysitter.

'My client acted in a reprehensible way,' he said. 'Is it felony murder under the circumstances?'

He told jurors she should be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

'I'm not saying she's a hero,' Kaplan told jurors. 'Did Angela Alexie knowingly create a risk of great bodily harm? She's guilty of many things. She's not guilty of felony murder.'

Alexie is accused of letting her newborn die in the detached garage of this house rather than allow him to go into foster care. A prosecutor told jurors that the newborn died of environmental hypothermia and neglect

The baby was found on January 14 by Roseville recycling plant worker Cyndee Johnson at this recycling plant. It was later identified as Alexie's child

The baby was found on January 14 by Roseville recycling plant worker Cyndee Johnson, who said she stopped the line immediately when she realized that the boy was a real baby.

He was blue, covered in snow, and curled up as if he were trying to stay warm, Johnson said.

'When I first saw, it scared me,' Johnson said tearfully. 'I jumped back. I moved back. I realized this was an actual baby.'

'It just grabbed my heart. I knew something wasn't right.'

'I said, "That's a real baby. Stop the line! Stop the line!"' she testified last year.

Alexie said last year that she concealed the pregnancy from her boyfriend and pretended to have miscarried.

Authorities released an appeal to find the mother, which prompted a response from Amy Lesniak, who is caring for two of Alexie's children.

She said she suspected Alexie was pregnant when she started missing visits, claiming to have the flu or stomach problems.

When she heard a baby was found in the dumpster, she called police saying she believed the child was Alexie's.

A funeral for the baby was held by the government officials on March 11 last year (pictured) after Alexie relinquished her rights to bury her son

A funeral for the baby was held by the government officials after Alexie relinquished her rights to bury her son.

'I don't know what to say. I'm standing here representing the church, and I'm just as confused as most of you,' said Richard Shubik, a deacon at St Paul on the Lake Catholic Church in Grosse Pointe Farms who presided over the service.

'But I think it's fitting, and I'm proud of all of you that are here today so that we can send Baby Henry off to the kingdom in the proper way.'

Shubik, along with a number of those in attendance at Resurrection Cemetery in Macomb County's Clinton Township, became emotional during the brief service, pausing in the middle of a prayer to compose himself.

The service also featured a bagpiper in addition to the procession led by the honor guard.

Clinton Township Fire Lt Paul Brouwer, who walked behind the baby's casket, said he and his fellow firefighters were moved by the baby's story.

The burial plot in an area of the cemetery devoted to children, as well as the casket and a viewing held Tuesday evening all were donated.