Countywide : Police Seek Clues to Identify Dead Baby

Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying an abandoned baby girl whose decomposing body was found wrapped in blankets and tucked in a car seat left near bushes in Anaheim, investigators said Tuesday.

The body was discovered beneath 4-foot-high juniper shrubs by a gardener Monday afternoon in an industrial business complex in the 300 block of North Euclid Street, Anaheim Police Lt. Ted Labahn said.

Investigators think the girl was 1 to 2 months old, and that she died perhaps four to five days ago, before she was abandoned, Labahn said.

“We don’t know for certain what the cause of death was because it’s going to require more forensics work by the coroners,” Labahn said. “We can probably rule out blunt force trauma, and it appears she didn’t die from exposure.”

The child was described as light-skinned, 22 inches long, 9 pounds and with straight, light brown hair. She wore a white Gerber shirt with purple checks on the sleeves, a teddy bear emblem and the words, “Say Cheese,” on the front, Labahn said. She also was wearing a white undershirt and Huggies diapers.

She was snugly wrapped inside a white blanket with white trim and a knitted pink blanket. She was seated in a gray Fisher Price child car seat with blue padding and a happy-face sticker with the word “Wal-Mart.”

Near the child was a baby bag with supplies and a formula bottle, Labahn said.

“She appeared to be well cared for, with the exception that she was deceased and obviously she was abandoned when she was found,” he said. “The status of her health before she was abandoned is a matter of speculation.”

Police request that anyone with information to call Det. Mike Foster at (714) 254-1973.