Police Appeal for Information on Identity of Baby

Huntington Park police on Thursday issued an urgent plea for information to help find the parents of a 1 1/2-year-old Latino boy who was found wandering alone more than a month ago in the city’s central business district.

Police do not know the child’s name and have been unable to find any relatives, despite distributing 700 flyers containing his picture. The child, known to authorities as Baby Doe, weighs 25 pounds, is 2 feet, 7 inches tall, and has brown eyes and curly brown hair.

“Without help, it’s possible that this child might lose its identity forever,” said Detective Cosme Lozano. “We have exhausted all leads and efforts.”

Police are uncertain whether the toddler was abandoned or lost on June 11. Employees of a Pacific Boulevard clothing store found the boy wandering around the children’s section of the store about 6 p.m. He was dressed only in a light blue T-shirt and a diaper when he was picked up by city police a short time later.

The Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services said the child showed no signs of abuse and is in good health. Except for a dime-sized vaccination mark on his right shoulder, he has no scars or birthmarks.

The child had been kept at a children’s services facility in El Monte until last week, when he was placed with a temporary foster family in La Puente.

Foster parents Maria and Alfonso Barragan said the child, whom they refer to as Junior, is happy and lively, and that he responds to Spanish. “He eats and sleeps and cries like a normal baby,” said Alfonso Barragan, 36, a machine operator at a baking commodities company in Commerce.

Officials were uncertain why the child was left alone.

“Maybe the mother gave the child to a neighbor and they became separated. Maybe the mother didn’t pick a good baby-sitter. Maybe she is here illegally and is afraid to come forward and get involved in the legal system,” said Steve Mickaelian, a children’s services administrator.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Huntington Park Police Department at (213) 584-6281, or the Department of Children’s Services at (800) 540-4000.