Child’s body found in duffel bag at border crossing

A toddler’s body was found stuffed into a duffel bag when a Whittier couple — not the girl’s parents — tried to cross the border from San Diego to Tijuana, authorities said Wednesday.

Investigators in San Diego and Whittier are trying to figure out who the child was, how she died and who her parents are, San Diego police homicide Lt. Ray Valentin said.

Johnny Lewis Hartley, 39, and Mercy Mary Becerra, 43, were arrested after Mexican authorities made the discovery while screening the bag at a pedestrian crossing in San Ysidro before noon on Tuesday, Valentin said.

The man was carrying the duffel bag and Mexican authorities sent him to a secondary inspection area. There, officials put the bag through an X-ray machine and saw the small body, Valentin said.

Hartley was turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, then to San Diego police homicide investigators. Valentin said when Hartley was detained, the woman ran off, but was caught a short time later and also detained. She, too, was handed over to U.S. authorities.

San Diego police investigators arrested them both on one count of murder, pending the outcome of an autopsy being conducted Wednesday. Valentin said the cause of death was not immediately obvious, but there was little chance she had died a natural death.

The San Diego County medical examiner’s office was conducting the autopsy.

Valentin said the San Diego County district attorney’s office advised his investigators to arrest Hartley and Becerra in San Diego until authorities decide who will have jurisdiction over the case, based on where any crime occurred. San Diego and Whittier police are working the case together, he said.

Hartley has a violent criminal history, according to Orange County court records.

In 1999, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and possessing, manufacturing or selling a deadly weapon. A gang enhancement was applied to the case, suggesting Hartley was a gang member or a gang associate. He was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison.

Six years later he was convicted of possessing drugs with the intent to sell and possessing drug paraphernalia. He was again sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison.

Then in 2010, Hartley pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm with a gang enhancement. He received three years in state prison.

As for Becerra, she pleaded guilty in 1992 to a felony of selling or transporting a controlled substance, according to Orange County court records. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years probation.

Repard and Winkley write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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UPDATES:

3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with addition information.

This article was originally published at 11 a.m.