Canoga Park Woman Held in Death of Baby Found in Trash

A Canoga Park woman thought to be the mother of a newborn found dead in a Burbank dumpster was held in jail Sunday on suspicion of murder.

Aileen Ordelheide, 27, was arrested late Saturday after the body of a baby boy was found in a bag in an apartment building dumpster around noon, Burbank police said. The umbilical cord and placenta were still attached.

Ordelheide is being held without bail at Burbank Jail. She has denied any involvement in the infant’s death, authorities said.

Police said they are unsure how the baby died. An autopsy today should determine the cause of death and whether Ordelheide is the infant’s mother, said investigator Craig Harvey of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

A tenant in the apartment building in the 1300 block of West Olive Avenue in Burbank found the baby as he emptied his trash into the dumpster, police said.

“He moved some items around to make room, found a bag that seemed a little heavy and upon opening the bag found the deceased,” said Lt. Don Brown of the Burbank Police Department.

Residents at the apartment complex contacted Sunday declined to talk about the incident.

Brown would not say what led investigators to arrest Ordelheide but said, “we have enough evidence to have her here on a no-bail situation.”

Brown said Ordelheide’s boyfriend lives in the apartment complex. The boyfriend, whose name was not released, was not a suspect in the case Sunday afternoon. Brown would not say if the boyfriend was the infant’s father.

Harvey said the baby appeared to have been full-term. He declined to speculate as to how old the infant was except to say that it was newborn.