Three plead not guilty in Long Beach baby kidnapping and slaying

Three people pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Long Beach courtroom to various charges in connection with the kidnapping and slaying of a 3-week-old baby girl.

The kidnapping and death of Eliza Delacruz in January was part of a disturbing plot to convince Giseleangelique Rene D’Milian’s married boyfriend that she had given birth to twins, according to Long Beach police.

D’Milian, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit and handcuffed and shackled around the waist, stood quietly through the court proceedings, joined by Anthony McCall and Todd Boudreaux, who are also charged.

A preliminary hearing conference was set for June 17.

D’Milian, 48, and McCall, 29, are charged with murder, kidnapping, attempted murder and conspiracy. Boudreaux, 44, is charged with attempted murder and attempted kidnapping.

Police have said that D’Milian told her boyfriend that she had given birth while she was overseas, when in fact she had not. She then plotted to snatch a boy and a girl to pass off as her own, officials said at a news conference last month. D’Milian allegedly identified possible children to abduct by claiming to run a charity organization that assisted mothers of infant children.

Police said McCall stormed the Long Beach home where Eliza lived on Jan. 3, shot the baby’s parents and uncle and whisked the girl away.

Details about how Eliza died and her body was disposed of in Imperial Beach the next day were not released. The parents and the uncle, who were not identified, survived the attack.

Weeks after Eliza was killed, police say D’Milian targeted a 23-year-old woman she had known for several years and who had a 4-month-old boy.

Police said McCall beat the woman with a baseball bat at a hotel in the 2000 block of East Mariposa Avenue in El Segundo. The woman, who was not identified, survived the beating, and the boy was found inside the hotel room by responding police.

McCall fled before police arrived, El Segundo Police Chief Rich Tavera said.

A handful of Boudreaux’s relatives sat in the courtroom and after they exited one began to cry.

Boudreaux has no criminal record, has been married more than 10 years and has two young children, his attorney, J. Tooson, said after the arraignment.

“They elected to charge the case together although he [Boudreaux] had nothing to do with the unfortunate death of Delacruz,” Tooson said. “I think it’s inherently unfair of him not to get bail commensurate with what we believe the evidence would show.”

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia