Local News in Brief : Infant Found in Trash Assumed Dead at Birth

A newborn baby whose body was found stuffed in a Burbank trash dumpster may have been born dead, preliminary results of an autopsy indicated Monday.

“My understanding is that the child was possibly stillborn,” said Sgt. Don Goldberg of the Burbank Police Department. Final results may not be available for another two weeks.

Meanwhile, the woman believed to be the infant’s mother remained in Burbank Jail Monday. Aileen Ordelheide, 27, of Sherman Oaks was being held without bail on suspicion of murder. Her case is scheduled to go today to the district attorney, who will decide what charges, if any, will be brought against her.

The baby boy, with placenta and umbilical cord still attached, was found shortly after noon Saturday, stuffed in the dumpster near an apartment complex’s laundry room by a neighbor taking out her garbage. The neighbor, Goldberg said, noticed a “foul odor” coming from the trash can and opened it to find the dead infant wrapped in a plastic bag and a towel.

An investigation by police led them to Ordelheide, a self-employed videotape editor. She was visiting her boyfriend, Tim O’Donnell, at the complex.

Ordelheide denied involvement in the incident and told police she was not the child’s mother, Goldberg said. But a medical examination Saturday at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank indicated that Ordelheide had recently given birth, he said.

Police said O’Donnell was questioned and released. Goldberg said investigators are assuming he is not the infant’s father.