Background: The Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset: Kimberly Rivera (Broward County Sheriff's Office).
A Florida woman turned herself in to police after she allegedly admitted to squeezing her baby boy.
Kimberly Rivera, 29, is in custody at the Broward County Main Jail, where she is being held on charges of aggravated child abuse and child neglect. According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, police said the investigation into Rivera began on Oct. 18, 2025, when medical staff at Broward General Medical Center notified the Department of Children and Families that a baby boy was brought in with a broken collarbone and rib.
At the time, Rivera allegedly said the boy's injuries could have been caused by the baby's older brother. Police said she eventually admitted that she often felt "overwhelmed," depressed, and "not really okay," but that she would "never, never take it [out]" on her kids.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a witness close to Rivera told police that she had "come clean" to him and admitted to him, "I squeezed the baby." The witness saw her "crying really bad" before the alleged confession, saying that Rivera was reportedly having "suicidal thoughts."
Police interviewed Rivera again after reading her Miranda rights, and when asked about the alleged squeezing incident, she allegedly said, "That's probably why he has those fractures, because of me." She demonstrated her alleged actions on a pillow, but admitted "he's just a baby," and the squeezing "would've hurt him really bad."
Police said Rivera believed she had postpartum depression, and her "frustration just took over." She also expressed remorse, saying, "I'm sorry that I didn't come clean to you guys, I was just afraid." During the interview, she reportedly expressed suicidal thoughts and was hospitalized under the Baker Act.
When police searched her phone, they said she also wrote a confession on Oct. 20, 2025, in her Notes app that read, "One night I let the frustration and [postpartum] depression get over me and I squeezed [redacted] because he wouldn't stop crying."
Police wrote in the probable cause affidavit that Rivera was subsequently admitted to a mental health facility following the alleged abuse incident. According to local independent news station WPLG, Rivera approached a deputy from the Broward County Sheriff's Office on Monday and told him that she believed there was an active warrant out for her arrest. She was brought to the Broward County Main Jail, where she remains in custody without bail.
Rivera is scheduled to be arraigned on June 1.