Baby Boy’s Body Found in Pomona Back Yard : Crime: Pit bulls were kept at the house, but police suspect that the mutilated infant was dead before being left there.

The mutilated body of an unidentified baby boy was found Friday in the back yard of a Pomona home where pit bulls were kept, but police suspect that the infant was killed elsewhere and dumped at the home.

Authorities said the baby--found near a rusting car in the littered yard of a working-class neighborhood--did not live at the Orange Grove Avenue home where he was found. The cause of the death was not immediately determined, and many details remained unclear late Friday. But Pomona Police Lt. Ron Windell said: “It is our feeling . . . that the child was probably dead prior to being introduced into the back yard.”

Lorraine Ruiz, 20, who made the gruesome discovery behind her two-bedroom home, said: “It’s hard to believe that something like this could happen in your own back yard. Whoever did this had no heart.”

The naked baby, between 1 week and 1 month old, had suffered head trauma and his testicles had been severed, police said. The baby also appeared to have been bitten, and one arm was missing, police said.

It was not known how long the body had been lying in the yard, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence.

An adult pit bull and her pup were in the yard of the home when the child’s body was discovered by the dogs’ owner. When police arrived, the adult dog was chained on the other side of the yard. The puppy, however, was roaming around the back yard. The two dogs were placed in an animal shelter.

“The baby could have been thrown over the fence or dropped on its head back there. We don’t know,” Windell said.

Police have no suspects and are asking anyone with information to contact detectives at (909) 620-2151.

Jacqueline Cowan, 24, a neighbor, said, “I think it’s pathetic somebody would kill a baby when so many people want one.”