HOUSTON (TCN) — A 21-year-old woman is in custody for allegedly trying to sell her unborn child in a Facebook group to “the highest bidder” because she did not want him going into foster care.
According to court documents, on Sept. 21, Juniper Bryson reached out to Jenna Daigle, whose late husband was Bryson’s second cousin. Bryson asked if Daigle knew anyone who wanted to adopt her unborn son. Daigle reportedly asked if Bryson wanted to keep the son in the family rather than going to a separate adoption agency, but Bryson said, “He will be positive. I can’t keep him at no point.”
Daigle asked if Bryson implied that she was positive for drugs.
That same day, Daigle reportedly posted on Facebook asking if any of her online friends wanted to take the baby. Some of Daigle’s friends reportedly messaged her and asked if the adoption was “legitimate.”
Daigle sent Bryson a screenshot of one of the inquiries, and Bryson reportedly responded, “Yeah it’s legitimate but there [sic] at some point gonna have to compensate. I’m not asking anything at all up front.”
Daigle asked, “What do you mean compensate? Like pay you $ for the baby?” to which Bryson replied, “Yes that why there [sic] thinking it’s a scam because there is an agreement half up front and half later but I’m not asking for anything until they have the baby. It’s a different kind of adoption.”
Daigle told her that was illegal, but Bryson claimed it was surrogacy. “You sound crazy,” she told Daigle.
Bryson said she wanted enough move “to move into an apartment so I can work a job” and get money for a car.
The affidavit says Bryson was a member of the Facebook group “Birth Mothers Looking for Adoptive Parent(s)” and posted on Sept. 22 that she was in Houston but willing to travel elsewhere for the adoption. She wrote, “I do have a lot of pain and am contracting so it needs to be soon.”
On Sept. 26, Daigle shared on Facebook that she “had no intention of helping [Bryson] sell her baby.”
Daigle later told investigators that she did not initially know Bryson’s “true intentions, which were to sell her baby.”
Bryson gave birth on Sept. 24 and was at a Houston-area hospital “while she awaits for the highest bidder.”
Daigle provided police with the name and number of a woman, Wendy Williams, who was at the hospital with Bryson because she wanted to adopt the baby boy.
The woman told police she has a license to foster and adopt children, and she had a “lengthy conversation through Facebook Messenger” with Bryson.
According to the affidavit, Bryson refused to sign documentation about the birth until the hospital tested the newborn for drugs. The results came back positive. Bryson posted about the adoption on Facebook and tagged Williams, but then several people messaged Williams asking, “Did you buy her baby?” Williams provided screenshots and other messages to nurses, who contacted Child Protective Services.
Bryson made Williams leave the room and refused to allow her access to her son. Williams told police she “could not understand what was going on but stated that after viewing Defendant Bryson’s phone she learned that Defendant Bryson was waiting for the highest bidder in exchange for her son.”
Investigators obtained a warrant to look through Bryson’s two phones and found messages to other hopeful couples about adopting the baby. One couple sent Bryson $25 via Apple Pay to cover food delivery. They drove from Louisiana to adopt the child, but Bryson reportedly began ignoring their texts.
Police shared six other messages from people asking about adopting the boy, and in all of them, Bryson asked if they were “willing to compensate.”
Harris County Jail records show Bryson was arrested on a charge of sale or purchase of child.
KTRK-TV spoke with Williams, who said she stayed in the hospital with Bryson for three days. Williams and her husband reportedly named the baby and even had notarized documents giving them the rights to make legal decisions for the child.
Williams told the station, “It was very heartbreaking, not just because we didn’t get a baby out of this, because I think his safety is definitely above all.”
The boy is reportedly in the custody of Bryson’s friend.
Williams shared, “I felt a real bond between a mom and a baby. I felt a connection as if he were biologically mine.”
You can read Bryson’s full criminal complaint at the link above.
