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Jasmine Maxwell, 7 weeks

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Jasmine Maxwell, a 7-week-old black infant, is listed as a homicide victim owing to starvation, dehydration and neglect, according to the Coroner. She died Aug. 10 at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Also known as Jashline, the infant was living with her mother Ranetta Maxwell. The mother is now wanted and faces a charge of felony child injury with special allegations.--Richard Winton/LAT staff

She was initially arrested for murder but released after prosecutors determined the case needed further investigation, The 32-year remains at large. A social worker from the Department of Children and Family Services, whose name has not been released, had checked the child during an emergency visit early on Aug. 9 to the mission, and had reported that the baby’s face was ‘narrow and skinny.’ She made an appointment for the child at a nearby clinic but learned later that day that the mother hadn’t kept the appointment. When her supervisor then told her to take Jasmine to a 24-hour clinic herself, the social worker decided to wait, even though overtime pay had been approved for her to take the child that night, according to county records obtained by The Times. The social worker logged a message into her department’s computer system saying she was ‘unable to go back’ to the mission because she had already worked ’11 hours without a break’ and thought she could take the child the next day. The next morning the mother was discovred trying to leave the mission with the dead child. Though she weighed just under 6 pounds at birth, the infant weighed just 4 pounds when she died.--Richard Winton

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