Tragic reason daughter of MLB Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley left her minutes-old baby to freeze in woods - as court hears bombshell claim about a SECOND newborn

The tragic reason the daughter of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley allegedly left her newborn baby to die in the woods amid freezing temperatures on Christmas night 2022 has been revealed.

Alexandra Eckersley, 27, had thought her son died almost instantly after she gave birth inside a tent in the New Hampshire woods, her attorney Jordan Strand claimed during opening statements in her trial on Thursday.

She noted that Eckersley was bleeding heavily, and after the baby was born, her boyfriend, George Theberge, said it had no pulse.

Prosecutors claim she then abandoned the child and misled police about the newborn's whereabouts.

Alexandra - who was adopted by the famous pitcher and his ex-partner Nancy O'Neill in 1996 - is now facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child, reckless conduct, second-degree assault and falsifying physical evidence.

Alexandra Eckersley, 27, is facing trial for allegedly abandoning her newborn child and misleading police about the baby's whereabouts

She has pleaded not guilty to these charges, as her lawyers argue she did not know she was pregnant and was suffering from substance abuse disorders as well as bipolar disorder - which she was diagnosed with as a kid. 

'She was in a heightened emotional state, not thinking clearly and suffering from symptoms of her bipolar disorder,' Strand argued.

She said Eckersley and George Theberge, who had been living in a tent in the woods for years, had no cellphone service to call for help and started walking toward an ice arena instead.

On their way, Eckersley experienced an afterbirth - but had thought she just had another child, Strand claimed on Thursday.

Eckersley would then tell a 911 dispatcher she had given birth to two children - and one had lived for less than a minute, while the other died immediately.

But when cops showed up at the scene, Eckersley allegedly misled police for 73 minutes, telling them she was bringing them to the baby - whom she claimed was born near the West Side Ice Arena around midnight.

Eckersley had given birth to the child inside a tent she shared with her boyfriend amid freezing temperatures on Christmas night 2022

Eckersley claimed she didn't know she was pregnant and gave birth in the tent with her boyfriend, George Theberge, present 

Eventually, officers found the baby lying on the ground at the tent she shared with Theberge, next to the bed after they 'noticed a trail of blood that appeared to run down the side of the bed,' the police report, viewed by the Boston Globe, said.

Police said the infant was found 'unclothed,' and had been struggling to breathe in temperatures that reached as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The police report also notes that Eckersley was found wearing bloodstained clothes and was under the influence of drugs.

When asked why she didn't bring her baby to the bridge to meet with police after making the 911 call, she replied: 'What do they tell you when a plane goes down? Save yourself first.' 

Eckersley was subsequently hospitalized and booked by officers, while her baby was rushed to Catholic Medical Center before being airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Eckersley has pleaded not guilty,  as her lawyers argue she did not know she was pregnant and was suffering from substance abuse disorders as well as bipolar disorder

Eckersley later claimed that prior to police arriving, she and Theberge agreed they would not lead officers to their tent in fear it would be torn down and taken away, leaving them without shelter during the winter. 

'Eckersley admitted that she had a conversation with George where they agreed to tell the police that the incident occurred at the soccer fields so that the police would not find and take their tents,' police said in Alexandra's arrest report.

'Eckersley was stating that it is very hard to survive if they had lost their tent because of the cold temperatures during the winter in Manchester. Eckersley stated that this is the reason they turned off the propane heat.'

Prosecutor Alexander Gatzoulis now argues that Eckersley intentionally led the first responders away from the baby because she didn't want to get in trouble.

'Nearly an hour after she gave birth, she told them a new fact for the first time: The baby was crying when she gave birth,' he told jurors on Thursday as he played body camera footage of first responders discovering the newborn.

'This completely changed the landscape of the search and increased everyone's urgency, because now, they were looking for a baby and not a corpse.' 

Theberge was also arrested in the aftermath and was sentenced last year to a minimum of a year in prison for endangering the life of the infant 

Eckersley's attorney, Jordan Strand, claimed in her opening statement on Thursday that her client thought the baby had died

He added that the defense may discuss Eckersley's history of mental illness and substance abuse 'but none of that negates her purposeful actions here by lying about where the baby was and leading the search party away from her child for well over an hour.'  

Strand, however, argued that Eckersley had tried to tell first responders where the baby was when they first arrived on the scene - but nobody would listen to her.

'No one walked across the bridge where she told dispatch the fetus was,' the lawyer claimed, according to WMUR.

'Instead, they put a headlamp on Allie's forehead and followed her around, all while she was bleeding through her clothes, all while she was experiencing everything a person experiences after giving birth.'

Eckersley has since been reunited with her son, after attending rehabilitation.

Eckersly has since been reunited with her son, after attending rehabilitation.

Her attorney Kim Kossick said that Eckersley had stayed sober since the day she gave birth, with the two now living with her family in Massachusetts. 

'She's done all the things that she is supposed to do,' Kossick told WMUR in March. 'She has gone to treatment. She has done everything that was asked of her. 

'That's why she is reunified with her child. She has been to rehab. She has done all the counseling.'

Meanwhile, Theberge, who was also arrested following her birth, was sentenced last August to a minimum of a year in prison for endangering the life of the infant. 

He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor child endangerment charge, having reached a deal with prosecutors.

Theberge also received an additional six months behind bars for a probation violation stemming from his arrest and a drug charge. 

Eckersley's trial is now expected to last five days, and will include testimony from Theberge. 

Eckersley is the daughter of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley and his ex-partner Nancy O'Neill

Her father, Dennis Eckersley, nicknamed 'Eck,' was an American professional baseball pitcher and former commentator.  

Between 1975 and 1998 he pitched in MLB for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals.

The 69-year-old gained prominence after becoming the first of two pitchers in major league history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career.

He played 24 seasons and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.