A woman was detained for questioning after a 6-month-old baby was found dead in a dumpster Monday evening in South Los Angeles, according to authorities.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded around 10:30 p.m. Monday to the area of Alba Street and Long Beach Avenue to investigate a death.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene for a report of a cardiac arrest and took the infant to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
A memorial is set up by the South L.A. dumpster where the body of the baby girl was found.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
KABC-TV reported the child’s death is being investigated as a homicide. Police did not provide further information about the woman who was detained, but local news outlets reported it was believed to be the child’s mother.
Neighborhood residents Herman Johnson and Laura Lacy told KTLA-TV that the detained woman is their foster daughter. Lacy said she believes the baby was her foster daughter’s child.
“I love her and I still want to know why,” Lacy told KTLA. “What was the problem? Why did you do that? You had no reason to do that.”
The resident who found the child told KNBC-TV that she was taking out the trash around 10:30 p.m. when she saw a black cloth bag inside the dumpster. She saw the child, who was fully dressed with gloves on, and thought it was a doll.
She and another neighbor called 911 once they realized it was a child, the outlet reported.
