ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — North Carolina authorities arrested a couple wanted by Hollywood police for killing their baby through neglect and then claiming the little girl was a “hoax” who never existed, officials announced on Thursday.
In an arrest warrant, police made a circumstantial case against Alejandro Leon Jr. and Samantha Angelina Feliz. They said the body of their still-missing baby girl, identified as “Angelina,” has still not yet been found, but signs ― including DNA blood evidence ― point to her death.
Police in Rockingham, North Carolina took Leon, 21, and Feliz, 20, into custody on Wednesday. They’re set to face multiple charges, including manslaughter, upon their return to South Florida.
Authorities said the investigation began after a relative contacted the Hollywood Police Department in July 2025 to report that he hadn’t seen the child since that February and said the couple made unsettling statements that Angelina “was part of a scam and denied ever having a baby.”
A relative who met with Feliz at a Hollywood park in March 2025 told investigators that after asking Feliz about Angelina, she replied, “What baby? There is no baby.”
“Since that time, Feliz has claimed that there never was a baby, that the baby was a hoax and that she was scamming everyone for money,” the HPD arrest warrant states.
But police said the couple referenced the girl in prior text messages and had had taken photos of Feliz visibly pregnant. Additionally, police said they took photos and videos with Angelina after her birth, which was believed to have been at home with no birth certificate issued.
Authorities said the last photo of Angelina was taken on Jan. 5, 2025. The baby looked “visibly ill and malnourished.”
“In this final photo, the victim is showing no signs of life,” police said of the image.
At one point, officers with the Lantana Police Department in Palm Beach County located and interviewed the couple and both maintained that “Feliz was never pregnant and had never given birth to a baby.”
“They further claimed that the story was fabricated in hopes that their families would feel sorry for them and give them money,” HPD Detective Nancie Toler wrote. “During the interview, Feliz indicated that there were numerous text messages between her, Leon, and family members discussing the pregnancy and how she made the story up.”
Police said Feliz claimed to have been “wearing a pregnant belly cast making her look pregnant” as part of the claimed “scam.”
“Moreover, during said interviews both Feliz and Leon advised that law enforcement would never find a ‘record’ of any baby,” Toler wrote. “Feliz further eluded (sic) to the fact that the (baby) had belonged to a crack addict and they were only watching (her).”
Authorities said a search of a storage unit in Hollywood ― where the couple is believed to have been living at one point ― revealed “baby clothing, a positive Clearblue Easy pregnancy test, black semi auto handgun, what appears to be a blood-stained towel, three notebooks containing verbiage of a gender reveal and victim shower, and multiple electronic devices.”
Crime lab results “indicated the presence of blood on the baby clothing and towels” and DNA testing showed it “was from a biological child of Leon and Feliz,” the warrant states.
In the warrant, Toler wrote that since the initial report, law enforcement has tried and failed to contact Feliz and Leon.
“Moreover, during the course of this investigation, law enforcement has attempted to locate the victim’s remains utilizing cadaver dogs at Leon and Feliz’s prior residences however, each search yielded negative results,” the detective wrote.
Toler laid out her case for charges as follows:
“Based upon the results of my initial investigation, including but not limited to, police reports, requests for welfare/missing persons checks, statements obtained, follow-up interviews, positive paternal and maternal DNA results, video’s and photographs depicting the victim in a healthy condition and the victim’s subsequent and apparent decline, and the final photographs of the victim depicting her without any signs of life coupled with the lack of human remains, there is probable cause to believe that victim ‘Angelina’ is a victim of Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child, contrary to F.S. 782.07(3). Moreover, based upon Feliz and Leon’s sworn recorded statements and the extensive evidence of A.F.’s birth and daily living obtained via numerous search warrants during the course of this long term investigation, there is probable cause to believe that Samantha Angelina Feliz failed to report A.F.’s death to the Medical Examiner’s Office, tampered with physical evidence, and provided false information to law enforcement in an effort to conceal the commission of a crime and/or prevent law enforcements efforts to locate A.F., contrary to Florida Statutes.”
After authorities issued an arrest warrant, the couple is set to face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, failure to report a death to the medical examiner’s office, false information concerning a missing child, and false reports to law enforcement during an investigation.
Police are asking anyone with information on the case to contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
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