3 Infants Who Died Alone to Get Services

Three abandoned babies found dead in Orange County about four months ago will be buried side by side Friday at Memory Garden Memorial Park and Mortuary.

Father Patrick Callahan, associate pastor at St. Matthew American Catholic Church in Orange, asked the coroner’s office to release the infants’ bodies for proper burials when the investigations were completed.

This evening, Callahan will conduct services at Emanuel Lutheran Church in La Habra.

On March 11, the body of a newborn girl with her umbilical cord still attached was discovered at the surf line in Newport Beach by a woman on a morning walk, police said. The next day, another newborn was found on Sunset Beach. Two days later, authorities discovered a dead infant boy in a cardboard box outside an apartment building in San Clemente.

The deaths baffled social services, because they happened within days of each other. Coroner’s investigators have not been able to locate any of the parents, so church officials assumed responsibilities for funeral and burial services. Memory Garden Memorial Park and Mortuary donated the caskets and plots.

Visitation will be at the church, 150 N. Palm Street, in La Habra from 5 to 7:30 p.m. followed by funeral services. The babies will be buried at 10 a.m. Friday at the mortuary, 455 W. Central Ave., in Brea.