Calgary police have laid charges in connection with the death of a newborn girl whose body was found in a dumpster in Bowness on Christmas Eve in 2017.

The baby’s mother, Nina Albright, 21, is charged with indignity to a dead human body and failure to provide the necessaries of life. She appeared in court Thursday afternoon and was released from custody with a set of court-ordered conditions she must adhere to.

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The baby’s body was discovered around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2017, by Charlie Shilmar, a resident who had been searching a row of recycling and garbage bins in a parking lot behind a northwest grocery store.

Upon finding the infant’s body in a garbage bin, located behind 7943 43rd Ave. N.W., Shilmar alerted police.

Over the course of the investigation, which began as an undetermined death and lasted around two years, Calgary police received 70 tips.

But Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta said none of those tips led police to identify a suspect.

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“After we exhausted all the tips that we prioritized, we went back and reviewed hundreds of hours of CCTV and were able to eventually find a female that appeared to be in . . . medical distress and also purchasing items,” he said.

Schiavetta said the CCTV footage showed the woman accompanied by a man, believed to be Albright’s boyfriend at the time but not the baby’s father.

He did not say what items were shown being purchased in the footage, but added they were consistent with the woman having given birth.

“This is a case that weighed heavily on the minds and hearts of not only investigators but the larger community,” said Schiavetta.

“While particulars surrounding motive and intent will unfold as part of the court process, we hope this provides some level of closure for all involved. If anyone is in a similar situation, there are numerous resources available. We certainly do not want to see this happen again.”

The baby was believed to have been born the same day her body was later found.

Jim Wells/Postmedia

Autopsy results indicated that at some point after birth the child had been breathing on her own.

Police don’t believe Albright had been coerced into allegedly abandoning the baby.

Schiavetta added that investigators are still trying to identify the baby’s father and are working through a “DNA-elimination process.”

Albright, who is from Calgary, worked as a child-care provider from April to November 2019, according to her Facebook profile.

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She studied baking and pastry arts at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology — working as a pastry chef in 2018 — and criminal justice at Bow Valley College.

Investigators are still working to determine whether Albright could face an amended set of charges.

She is scheduled to appear in court next on Feb. 21.

During the investigation, genetic material from the baby allowed police to use a technique called DNA phenotyping to release an approximate likeness of the child’s mother

Photo by Calgary Police Service

Homicide detectives had hoped the image, released in February 2018, would bring them closer to locating the mother.

It was the first time Calgary police used DNA phenotyping during an investigation.

Schiavetta said the phenotype and the characteristics of Albright were “close.”

“Certainly, going back to 2017, we were and still are concerned about the welfare of the mother,” he said.

Shilmar, 74, said finding the baby’s body more than two years ago has haunted him ever since.

“It sure buggered up my life,” he said.

“I can’t sleep at night. I think about it all the time.”

Shilmar, a security guard who keeps an eye on some of the businesses near the area where the baby was left, recalled taking his dog out for a stroll the night he found the body.

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He said he noticed a few stray bottles near the garbage bin and went to collect them.

“I saw this red towel hanging out of the top of the garbage bin there. I flipped it open and I see this little leg,” Shilmar recalled.

“I thought it was a doll, like, it was Christmas Eve. I thought, ‘Jesus, did somebody throw a doll away?’ So I lifted up the blanket and that’s when I saw the baby.”

Shilmar said the news Thursday brought him “quite a bit of closure.”

But to this day, he said he still won’t go near that area, adding he’s “scared to go out at night” now.

What troubles him most is believing that had he taken his dog out a little earlier that night, he might have found the baby before she died.

“If I had checked the garbage before that, the baby probably would’ve been still alive,” he said.

“That bothers the s— out of me.”

— With files from Kevin Martin