Family Denied Custody of Baby Left on Airliner

Rejecting a plea from the father, a Juvenile Court commissioner ruled Monday that a newborn girl found in a jetliner restroom will remain in the temporary custody of social workers.

Alyssa Frances LoCasto will stay in a foster home at least until Friday, when San Mateo County presents a study of relatives’ homes to determine if any would be suitable for the child, Commissioner Patricia Bresee decided.

Louis and Christina LoCasto of Staten Island, N.Y., will be allowed to visit with their infant daughter under the supervision of the county Department of Social Services. Louis LoCasto had sought custody of the child.

The closed hearing in Juvenile Court followed Christina LoCasto’s innocent plea last week to a felony charge of child endangerment. She is free on $50,000 bail.

Christina LoCasto, 24, is accused of hiding the newborn infant under the sink of a restroom on the DC-10 as the plane was about to take off from Newark on Wednesday. She resumed her seat and got off the plane in San Francisco with her husband and two other young children, detectives say.

After the hearing, the LoCastos left hurriedly through the back door of the courthouse and declined to talk with reporters.

The couple had been having “domestic problems” at the time of their third daughter’s conception, and Christina LoCasto--still plump from the birth of their second child less than a year earlier--concealed her pregnancy from her husband and lied to him when he asked if she was expecting again, her lawyer said.

“Once having told a lie of that magnitude, it became more difficult to tell the truth,” attorney John L. Williams said.