CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

Police continued their search Saturday for Marcus Fisher, the ex-boyfriend of the mother of a 6-year-old boy whose battered body was found in a South Los Angeles home.

Meanwhile, an autopsy on Dae’von Bailey, whose body was found on the floor Thursday by relatives, could be performed as early as this morning, a coroner’s official said.

Lt. Vincent Neglia of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Abused Child Unit said the boy had numerous injuries on his body in various states of healing, indicating that he was hurt over an extended period.

Dae’von had been the subject of about a dozen calls to L.A. County’s child abuse hotline alleging abuse or neglect.

County officials have launched an internal investigation to determine whether its children’s services system failed.

Dae’von and his sister, 5, who was taken into protective custody, had been staying with Fisher, 36. Their mother, Tylette Davis, said she let him care for the children while she took care of some “issues.” Davis indicated Friday that at least four of her five other children had been taken into protective custody.

Davis, 28, said that Fisher, from whom she separated awhile ago, is the father of her 5-year-old daughter but not of Dae’von. She said she was not aware of any abuse of the boy by Fisher, though she added that one of her other sons, now 9, was “whipped” badly by Fisher about three years ago.

-- Hector Becerra