Police Question Homeless Woman About Dead Infant : Van Nuys: Merchants say she was pregnant before the newborn’s body was found Sunday. She is taken to a hospital for mental evaluation.

A 34-year-old homeless woman, believed to be the mother of a newborn infant left on a Van Nuys bus bench Sunday morning, was questioned by police and taken to a county hospital where she will undergo a mental evaluation, authorities said Monday.

Marilyn Sue Myric was pregnant several days before the infant’s body was discovered by a passerby about 9:30 a.m. wrapped in a blanket on the bus bench at the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Hamlin Street, merchants in the 6500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard told investigators.

Myric, who has a history of mental illness, was unable to explain what happened to the baby that she had delivered or provide information about her identity when she was questioned, police said.

She was taken to a doctor who confirmed that Myric had recently delivered a baby, police said.

“I think a lot of people saw her because she used to walk up and down Van Nuys Boulevard,” said Urbano Martinez, who owns Mr. Pancho Market on Van Nuys Boulevard.

“She was pretty dirty and had a medium-sized wound on her right arm. I think she used to sleep in the alley behind the store because I would see her in the mornings when I opened up my shop,” he said.

Police took her to Los Angeles County-USC Hospital where she will receive medical treatment and undergo a mental evaluation.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy on the infant to determine the cause of death, police said.