LOS ANGELES : Man Gets 21-Year Term for Killing Infant Girl
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An East Los Angeles man who pleaded no contest to killing his girlfriend’s daughter and then dumping the baby’s body into a trash bin was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in prison.
John Diaz, 27, was arrested in February after a three-day search for him and 10-month-old Desire Lartundo. He entered his plea, which is the equivalent of a guilty plea, in May as his preliminary hearing was about to get under way.
The search began after the baby’s mother returned to her Boyle Heights home after a trip to the doctor and found Diaz and the baby gone. According to police, Diaz admitted after his arrest that he threw the child to the floor because she was crying. Diaz put the dead child into a gym bag, which he threw into a nearby trash bin.
The bin was emptied before Diaz was arrested, and a search at a La Puente landfill failed to turn up the body.
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