Infant Girl Found Dead in Trash; Mother Is Arrested

Authorities found a dead infant girl in a dumpster Tuesday morning and arrested her 17-year-old mother on suspicion of murder.

The infant was discovered at 8 a.m. when a woman went to take out her trash and lifted the lid to the dumpster at 5915 Whitnall Highway in North Hollywood, police said. Inside, she found the infant, who was naked and apparently already dead, said Lt. Al Moen, officer in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Child Protection Section. Paramedics were called, and the infant was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

Although the investigation is continuing, Moen said police determined that a teen-ager living next door to the dumpster had concealed her pregnancy from her mother, with whom she lived. The girl, who police won’t identify because she is a juvenile, “admitted giving birth to the infant girl and putting the child in the dumpster” shortly afterward, Moen said.

“Unfortunately, we have too many of these kinds of cases,” Moen said. “There are plenty of people who would want to adopt children. It’s a shame people have to resort to this.”

The apparent cause of the infant’s death is being withheld pending autopsy results, which Moen said should be ready by the end of the week.

Police today plan to submit a petition to prosecutors in Sylmar Juvenile Court asking that the teen-age mother be charged with the equivalent of murder. If she is convicted, she could be sentenced to stay in jail until she turns 25, Moen said.