Killer of newborn baby in California identified, arrested, and sentenced after 17 years – all thanks to a Costco receipt

A woman has been charged with the voluntary manslaughter of a newborn baby who was drowned and left in a dumpster in San Francisco 17 years ago. Angela Onduto, 47, was finally caught after nearly two decades thanks to a Costco receipt and DNA evidence.

The body of the newborn baby girl named Matea Esperanza, meaning “hope” or “gift of God,” was discovered abandoned in a dumpster at Parkside Apartments in Union City, in May 2009. The discovery was made by a man searching for recyclables in the trash, reports The Sun.

An autopsy conducted at the time revealed that baby Matea had died by drowning less than 24 hours before she was dumped at the location. However, there wasn’t enough evidence at the time to convict anybody of the crime. The case remained cold for almost 17 years with a breakthrough finally coming in 2025.

Angela Onduto was a person of interest in the initial investigation, but it wasn’t until “advanced DNA analysis of evidence collected in 2009” was conducted and proved she was the mother of the child that detectives zeroed in on her, as per Fox 28. The DNA certainly connected her to the victim but investigators needed something more. Luckily, something else was discovered in the dumpster that would help charge and convict Onduto.

A Costco receipt found in the dumpster helped find the killer

The DNA evidence linked Onduto to the child but a Costco receipt, which was also found in the dumpster and stored as evidence, linked her to the scene of the crime. The receipt, along with the DNA evidence was enough to arrest Onduto.

Authorities traveled to Denver and coordinated with local law enforcement and arrested the 47-year-old in May 2025, right around what would have been Matea’s 16th birthday. Charges were initially withheld pending further forensic analysis but a few weeks later a murder charge was filed against Angela Onduto.

In a charging statement detectives wrote that “Angela expressed no remorse.” Onduto’s medical license (to practice physical therapy) was revoked following her arrest although her lawyers argued that the case had no bearing on her medical career stating that “[Onduto] labored for hours overnight and gave birth alone in her bathtub, then drowned the baby almost immediately post-partum.”

Onduto was sentenced after she pleaded no contest to the charge of voluntary manslaughter, but was only handed a sentence of six years in prison.