Mother Arrested in Death of Her Infant

A 20-year-old Escondido woman was in custody Friday in connection with the death of her newborn infant, who was found in a trash bin last November.

Tiffiny Nicole Sandeffer was arrested Thursday as she pulled into a fast-food restaurant near Escondido Mission Village about 1:30 p.m. She was taken to Las Colinas women’s jail and is being held in lieu of $1-million bail.

During the 8 1/2 months of investigation, detectives interviewed Sandeffer five times and asked that she undergo a gynecological examination to determine if she had been pregnant, Escondido Police Lt. John Wilson said.

Police said they linked Sandeffer to the baby through DNA testing.

Sandeffer has maintained that she did not bear the child, and is not responsible for the death. On Friday, her father, Clifford Sandeffer, declined to comment about the case.

The body of the infant was found about 5:30 a.m. Nov. 8 by a man living in the area who regularly picks through garbage to recover aluminum cans. An autopsy showed the baby had been carried to full term and died of asphyxiation.

The baby and placenta were wrapped in a distinctively striped towel, then placed in a plastic garbage bag. The bag was found in a trash bin at the Cross Creek Apartments in the 300 block of West El Norte Parkway, where Sandeffer lived until moving to her parents’ home in January, Wilson said.

Sandeffer’s name was taken down by police, as she joined neighbors who gathered around the trash bin minutes after the baby was found, Wilson said. Later, she became a suspect when neighbors told police the towel may have belonged to Sandeffer.

Detectives said investigators ran into problems determining Sandeffer’s pregnancy, Wilson said. Sandeffer, who is 5-foot-9 and weighs 160 pounds, allegedly concealed her pregnancy from neighbors and family, Wilson said.

“Neighbors said they noticed Tiffiny was getting big before the baby was found,” Wilson said, “but, when people pointed it out, she always denied it.”

Police said the baby had probably been in the bin for about an hour because it was found still warm at the top of a garbage heap. Enclosed in the same garbage bag were soiled diapers large enough to fit a baby between the ages of 1 and 2 1/2 years, Wilson said. At the time, Sandeffer was a mother of two--a 2-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

Sandeffer’s children were placed in the custody of their paternal grandmother in January, Wilson said. The arrangement was prompted by concerns of the county Department of Child Protective Services, and was made with Sandeffer’s cooperation. The children had been well cared for when they were taken from Sandeffer’s charge, Wilson said.

According to police, Sandeffer, who was unemployed at the time, may have worried about having to support a third child and feared the scorn of her family for having another baby out of wedlock.

Delays in the arrest were also attributed to problems with the laboratories that conducted the DNA testing, Wilson said. Sandeffer had been working part-time at the Wherehouse music and video store in San Marcos and was not considered a flight risk during the investigation, Wilson said.