ORANGE : Services to Be Held for 2 Babies Found Dead

Two abandoned newborns who were found dead in August will be buried today at Fairhaven Memorial Park.

The coroner’s office recently released the two bodies to Father Patrick Callahan, an associate pastor at St. Matthew American Catholic Church in Orange, who will conduct a funeral service and burial for the children.

The first child, a 1 1/2-day-old girl, was discovered Aug. 12 in the trunk of her mother’s car in Fullerton.

The mother, who was charged with murder, had been arrested twice on suspicion of abandoning her children.

The other was an 18- to 20-week fetus that was found about a week later in a toilet at an apartment building in Stanton.

Officials said the baby apparently was dead before it was placed in the toilet.

After the Orange County coroner’s office completed investigating the deaths, they granted Callahan guardianship because no one would claimed the bodies.

“These children were homeless and abandoned,” Callahan said.

“For whatever reason, they died alone. I hate the thought of these children being buried without a service and without a name.”

The two will be named during the services at the church, at 2207 Orangewood Ave.