Newborn Found Dead At California Waste Management Facility, Officials Seek Public Help As Homicide Investigation Continues

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office in California was seeking public help to identify a newborn girl who was found dead at a waste management facility last week.

The body of the newborn was found on a conveyor belt at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District Materials Recovery Facility late April. The sheriff's deputies named the infant “Baby Marina.” In a press conference Wednesday (May 6), investigators revealed the baby girl was at 39 weeks to development when she died. The officials were working hard to identify the baby and were trying to figure out where exactly she was dumped.

"The fact is there's hundred upon hundreds of trucks coming in daily, and it doesn't look like that's going to be something that's going to pan out," said Mike Smith, a MCSO detective. The investigators reached out to local hospitals but were unable to find anything matching the case. They are, however, confident that the newborn’s parents can be identified through DNA sequencing.

"We have people in the area and national experts that will take her DNA for us, they've already contacted us, and start running it through and try to do reverse genealogy to find out people she is related to," said Bryan Hoskins, a MCSO detective sergeant.

The investigators were seeking public help in identifying the newborn.

"What we're asking is if you're aware of someone that was due in April or May and you haven't had contact with that person or seen a picture of the child or something along those lines, because these times are so much different than before, go ahead and give us a call," said Smith.

The investigators have also requested the parents of the child to come forward.

"We want to let the parents know that we understand what happened may not have been easy, and we're hear to hear what happened if they're willing to come forward and talk to us," said Hoskins.

Meanwhile, the death was being investigated as homicide and officials were trying to determine the cause. The body will remain in the custody of the Sheriff’s office till the investigation comes to a conclusion.