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Woman Arrested Again After Newborn Son Found Dead : Abuse: Fullerton resident was booked in 1992 for abandoning her infant daughter. In the latest incident, baby’s body is discovered in trunk of her car.

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TIMES STAFF WRITERS

A Fullerton woman arrested three years ago for abandoning her infant daughter shortly after giving birth was arrested again Saturday after the body of her newborn son was found in a cardboard box in the trunk of her car, police said.

Jackie Lynn Anderson, 37, was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder, Fullerton Police Lt. Tony Hernandez said.

Her mother, Peggy Anderson, discovered the baby in the trunk while looking in her daughter’s car Friday evening, police said. Peggy Anderson’s husband called the Fullerton Fire Department seeking medical aid, but the baby was dead when paramedics arrived, police said.

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A preliminary autopsy “determined it was a live birth,” Hernandez said. But the cause of death was unknown pending the completion of a toxicology report by the Orange County coroner.

Hernandez said police are re-investigating Anderson’s arrest in December, 1992. Then she was booked on one count of felony child endangerment when her roommate heard a baby crying after Anderson had left for work and discovered a tangle of bloody sheets in Anderson’s bedroom.

A Fullerton police officer pulled back the bedclothes and found a 1 1/2-day-old baby girl still smeared with blood from birth. Paramedics had to clear the baby’s lungs and give her oxygen to ease her shallow breathing, police said.

Anderson told police then that she was upset after giving birth and had not decided what to do about the baby. The child was taken to a hospital and Anderson’s 11-year-old son was placed with relatives.

It could not be determined Saturday whether Anderson was prosecuted in the 1992 case and whether she had regained custody of her children.

Linda Kelley, who owned the home that Anderson was renting at the time of that arrest, was stunned Saturday to learn that her former tenant may have abandoned another newborn infant.

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“It’s so sad,” Kelley said. “I don’t know why she does it. I think it’s pretty obvious she doesn’t want these kids.”

Anderson was living at her parents’ home when she was arrested Saturday.

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