A Florida couple is being accused of an unthinkable crime and even wilder cover-up. What started as a missing baby investigation in Hollywood, Florida, has turned into a five-charge criminal case spanning two states, and the parents are no longer sitting in the same jail. The Baby Angelina case took another turn Monday after Alejandro Leon Jr., 21, was extradited to Broward County and appeared before a judge, while Samantha Angeline Feliz, 20, remained behind bars in North Carolina.
Leon and Feliz were arrested in Richmond County, North Carolina, on July 22 after authorities said investigators tracked them to property belonging to one of Leon’s relatives. Both are accused in Florida of aggravated manslaughter of a child, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, failure to report a death to the medical examiner’s office, providing false information concerning a missing child and making false reports to law enforcement during an investigation.
Now, the extradition process has split their legal timelines.
Leon was booked into Broward Main Jail on Sunday and appeared in court Monday morning. His hearing was reset for Tuesday after his attorney requested additional time to review evidence, according to Local 10. Feliz, meanwhile, remains in North Carolina awaiting extradition and is scheduled for a court appearance there Thursday. Investigators still have not recovered Angelina’s remains.
The allegations behind those charges stretch back to late 2024. Authorities have said Feliz gave birth to a daughter sometime between December 6, 2024, and January 5, 2025, outside of a hospital. Family members allegedly saw the couple with the infant during her first month of life, but authorities said she was later “never seen again.”
Then came the explanation investigators say the couple gave family members.
“Both parents denied that the child was theirs, claiming it was a prank,” the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said in its release announcing the arrests.
That claim became even more significant as investigators continued piecing together evidence that authorities say showed a baby had existed. Hollywood police launched their investigation after relatives raised concerns about Angelina’s whereabouts, and the case eventually grew from a missing child investigation into allegations that the infant had died through neglect.
Florida authorities had publicly been searching for Baby Angelina well before the arrests. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement listed her as missing from Hollywood, with a missing date of Dec. 16, 2024, when she was approximately one week old. The alert identified Feliz and Leon as the adults believed to be with her and warned the public not to approach them if located.
According to police, the case did not depend on a birth certificate or hospital records. Investigators said they gathered evidence over the course of the investigation that supported their belief Angelina had been born and later died.
Authorities have also said a final known photograph of the infant appeared to show her with no signs of life. Investigators reported finding blood on baby clothing and towels recovered from a Hollywood storage unit, with DNA testing allegedly linking that blood to a biological child of Leon and Feliz.
Still, one major piece of the case remains unresolved: Angelina’s body has not been found.
That gap has not stopped prosecutors from moving forward. Both parents face the same five charges, including aggravated manslaughter of a child, while investigators allege false statements and evidence tampering were part of an effort to conceal what happened.
The North Carolina arrests came after authorities said Leon and Feliz left Florida and were found living on a relative’s property in Richmond County. Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to take them into custody.
“This is a prime example of agencies nationwide collaborating to uphold justice,” Richmond County Sheriff Mark B. Gulledge said following the arrests.
For Leon, the case is now moving through Broward County court. For Feliz, extradition remains the next step.
And despite the charges, arrests and interstate manhunt, the question at the center of the case has not changed: What happened to Baby Angelina?
