Where is Alejandra Mendoza now? What happened after the A Child of My Own kidnapping

Netflix has added another almost unbelievable true crime story to its library with A Child of My Own, a new documentary about a woman who faked a pregnancy for months before kidnapping a newborn baby from the hospital where she worked.

Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi, A Child of My Own combines interviews, archive footage and dramatised reconstructions to tell the story of Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza – known as Alejandra or Ale – and the events which resulted in her spending more than 13 years in prison.

So, what exactly happened to Alejandra, and where is she now? Here’s what you need to know.

Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza was a 26-year-old hospital employee living in Mexico when she kidnapped a newborn baby in 2009.

Alejandra had married her husband, Arturo Calderón Gamiño, nine years earlier (at the age of 17) and was pregnant on her wedding day, but she sadly went on to suffer a miscarriage.

In A Child of My Own, Alejandra speaks about always having felt drawn to children. “I’ve always been drawn to [children] and all the children in my family,” she explains.

But she also describes the intense pressure she felt to become a mother, particularly because of her difficult relationship with Arturo’s family. “When I got married the biggest pressure I felt was to make his family happy,” she says, adding that not being accepted by his mother made her feel as though she had to “earn my place”.

Ale’s story was partially portrayed by an actor in A Child of My Own

Alejandra also recalls the devastating response she received from her mother-in-law after losing her first pregnancy while the couple were living with Arturo’s parents: “It’s because you weren’t careful.”

The couple continued trying for a baby for around eight years, with Alejandra experiencing further pregnancy loss. Arturo was reluctant to consider adoption because, in his view, it wasn't “the same”. After another pregnancy ended at four months, Alejandra was told that it would be difficult for her to ever carry a baby to full term.

She remembers sitting in the hospital waiting room afterwards and asking God, “Why me?”

And it was there, Alejandra claims, that she met Mayra – the woman whose newborn daughter she would eventually take as part of an 'agreement' that the pair made. Alejandra claims Mayra was considering an abortion because the baby's father didn't want the responsibility and she couldn't afford another child.

According to Alejandra, Mayra told her: “I’d rather give it away than get rid of it.”

Mayra categorically denies that any agreement was made, and that she'd ever met Alejandra prior to the day her baby was later stolen.

Following her miscarriage, Alejandra chose not to tell Arturo or their families that she was no longer pregnant and instead, hatched the deeply messy and upsetting scheme of deliberately gaining weight and in order to continue pretending she was expecting.

Alejandra even attended her own baby shower, where archival footage shows her becoming emotional as her mother celebrates the supposedly imminent arrival of her grandchild.

She also fabricated medical records and obtained maternity leave. According to contemporary reporting, Alejandra ultimately gained around 25kg while maintaining the false pregnancy.

Arturo, meanwhile, appears to have genuinely believed his wife was pregnant. A Child of My Own includes footage he recorded shortly before Alejandra was supposedly due to give birth, in which he appears excited about becoming a father.

In June 2009, Mayra gave birth to a baby girl at the Hospital General de México. According to Alejandra's version, she visited Mayra following the birth and confirmed that their previous agreement was still in place. She claims Mayra subsequently left the hospital and that she took the baby because she feared the child would otherwise be taken into care.

However, Mayra tells an entirely different story...

According to Mayra, Alejandra approached her after the birth, displayed her hospital identification and posed as a social worker carrying out a survey. She allegedly asked questions about Mayra's children and relationship with the baby's father. Mayra's account is supported in the documentary by the child's father, while the purported survey paperwork was also found.

When Mayra was temporarily taken away for medical tests after developing a fever and infection, her baby disappeared.

“Never did I think my baby was kidnapped,” Mayra recalls, explaining that she initially assumed a nurse had simply taken the newborn to be bathed.

In reality, Alejandra had left the hospital carrying the baby inside a shopping bag, something caught on CCTV and shown in the documentary.

After leaving the hospital, Alejandra met Arturo and revealed that the baby wasn't biologically theirs. The couple went to a hotel with the newborn, which is where police found them hours later and safely recovered the baby.

Both Alejandra and Arturo were arrested, but both have maintained consistently that Alejandra acted alone and that Arturo was truly none the wiser.

Alejandra says in A Child of My Own that she spent 13 years, three months and 25 days in prison. She describes the beginning of her sentence as particularly difficult, saying she had hurt her parents and husband and had done "the worst things without meaning to".

The documentary also explores Alejandra's psychological state. It explains that she was diagnosed as experiencing dissociation, in which fantasy and reality had become blurred, with the enormous social pressure she felt around motherhood having a major impact.

However, the judge involved in Alejandra's case (who also appears in the film) makes clear that understanding Alejandra's circumstances did not erase the harm done to Mayra and her family.

Mayra says in the documentary that she has been unable to forgive Alejandra.

Alejandra is now out of prison and living as a free woman in Mexico, after completing her sentence in 2023.

Towards the end of A Child of My Own, cameras capture Alejandra preparing to leave prison, saying goodbye to other inmates before being reunited with her family outside.

She explains that her years in prison fundamentally changed how she thought about motherhood.

"During my thirteen years in prison, I have focussed on accepting not being a mom," she says. "Before, I think my desire to be a mom was more about pleasing others. What else is out there beyond being a mom?"

Her marriage to Arturo also changed dramatically after her release; after Arturo admitted he still wanted to become a father, Alejandra told him to go and "find his happiness". The couple separated, and Arturo subsequently had a relationship with another woman which resulted in the birth of a son.

However, that wasn't the end of Alejandra and Arturo's relationship.

Yes. According to A Child of My Own, Alejandra and Arturo eventually reconciled.

Alejandra explains that Arturo later returned and told her he missed and loved her and wanted her back in his life. They decided to try their relationship again.

Their family now looks very different from the one they imagined when they first married.

Alejandra says she has also taken on a parental role in Arturo's son's life – something which has allowed her to experience motherhood in a way she could never have predicted when the events depicted in A Child of My Own began.

She continues to maintain that Mayra had agreed to give her the baby, despite Mayra's denial and evidence that undermines this version of events.

A Child of My Own is available to stream on Netflix now