Baby found in dumpster, 19-year-old mother arrested on suspicion of murder, police say
LOS ANGELES -- A baby died after she was found abandoned in a dumpster in Los Angeles, police said.
Her 19-year-old mother was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The baby was found around 10:30 p.m. Monday outside the Pueblo Del Rio housing project near Alba Street and Long Beach Avenue, according police.
Authorities said the baby had been left within the last 24 hours.
Responding firefighters took the baby girl, who was 4 months old, to the hospital where she died. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Police on Tuesday evening identified the suspect as 19-year-old Takiyah Babers, the baby's mother.
Babers was arrested on suspicion of murder, and her bail is set at $2 million.
Laura Lacy believes her foster daughter, Babers, is responsible for the death.
Lacey said she saw on the news that a baby was found in a dumpster near the apartment where her foster daughter and granddaughter, Luna, were staying. She immediately got in the car and raced over early Tuesday morning.
She and her partner Herman had just dropped the baby off with her daughter the night before.
As the morning progressed, Lacey said her daughter's story about where the baby was wasn't adding up.
After hours of not being able to find her granddaughter, Lacey heard a description of the baby from the woman who allegedly found Luna in the dumpster.
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"Everything she was describing was the same thing Luna had on," Lacey told somebody that she was talking on the phone with. "The lady that saw the baby... said she had pink pants, a flower shirt with some gloves on."
Lacey said at this point, she's in disbelief.
"She put that beautiful baby in the [expletive] trash. Who does this!"
The LAPD's Community Safety Partnership Bureau says their focus right now is healing in the small community.
"We want to ensure that there's proper healing, that the community members understand what's happening, and that they can be there for one another," said Deputy Chief Ruby Flores.
Lacey said she's devastated, and if her daughter did this, she could never forgive her.
"I have no love for her. Why? Because she didn't have no love for that innocent baby."
Police have not confirmed that the baby who was found is in fact Luna, but the investigation is ongoing.
There are resources for any parent who thinks they cannot care for a newborn child under California's Safely Surrendered Baby law.
A baby can be safely surrendered without penalty within 72 hours of its birth provided the infant is left at a designated fire station or hospital. To find the nearest Safe Surrender site in Los Angeles County, call 1-877-BABYSAF (1-877-222-9723) or find a location online.
