Newborn Infant Found Dead Near Trash Can in LA Park
An investigation is underway after a dead fetus, with an umbilical cord still attached, was discovered in South El Monte, Los Angeles, on Friday morning.
The newborn was found by a trash can at the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area by a man doing maintenance work as community service, who called 911 at about 8 a.m. Los Angeles County Fire responded to the call and confirmed the baby was dead. Neither an identity nor a cause of death has been confirmed.
The local authorities are trying to track down the baby's mother, who they fear may be in distress, and are urging anyone with information to come forward.
Speaking to reporters, Lieutenant Hugo Reynaga, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), commented: "This is a 6-to-7-month gestational period baby found with an umbilical cord attached to the placenta.
"That's all we have at this point. There's no cameras out here, there's no video cameras in the park that would give us any more information.
"This shouldn't have happened unless the female was in some kind of distress and this happened unknowingly to her."
Reynaga noted that under Californian law parents can safely surrender a newborn child within 72 hours of birth, at designated sites such as hospitals or fire stations, if they feel unable to look after it. Otherwise, abandoning a baby is a crime.
Local network FOX 11 reported that police were using a bloodhound to assist in the search for the baby's mother.
In a news release, the Sheriff's Department said: "Investigators believed the infant had been abandoned for approximately 3 hours before he was discovered.
"There was no traumatic injury observed on the infant."
Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department at 323-889-5500. Alternatively, anonymous tips can be given to Crime Stoppers, who can be contacted at 800-222-8477 or via LACrimeStoppers.org.
On March 1, the remains of a newborn baby were discovered inside a vacant house in Kentucky. Marty Hart, chief of the local Falmouth Police Department, said: "We're not actively looking for anybody. We're aware who the mother is and the baby was taken to the Kentucky Medical Examiner for an autopsy."
In September 2022, a 9-month-old girl with a broken leg was discovered by a Texas couple abandoned in their backyard shed. The baby was transported to the hospital in a medical helicopter.
A woman in Memphis, Tennessee, called the police on March 24 2022 after finding a dead baby had been abandoned on her front porch.
