Wave Wire Services
SOUTH LOS ANGELES — A 4-month-old girl who was found Sept. 28 in a trash bin died as a result of blunt trauma, according to a report released Oct. 5.
Luna Babers was 4 months and 3 days. Her 19-year-old mother, Takiyah Rochelle Babers, has been charged with murder and assault on a child causing death. She appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Oct. 1, but her arraignment was postponed until Oct. 30.
She is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
Babers was arrested Sept. 29 at an apartment complex in the 5200 block of Alba Street, where the baby was found the previous night in a large trash bin. The baby was formally identified by the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office, which listed her cause of death as blunt trauma and the manner as homicide.
The baby was found unresponsive in the trash bin. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A possible motive for the crime has not been provided.
Los Angeles police confirmed that Babers was the infant’s mother.
The community responded to the infant’s death by creating a memorial at the site. Dozens of candles were lighted, flowers were placed and balloons were tied to the trash bin where the baby was found.
That was the sweetest little baby in the world,” Herman Johnson, Babers’ foster father, told Fox11. “To be found in a dumpster, dirty dumpster, it just broke my heart. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know what to say.”
Johnson said he questioned Babers after learning that a baby had been found in a trash bin. He said his foster daughter initially told him the baby was sleeping, then said the infant was at the baby’s father’s home, which also proved untrue.
Babers’ foster mother, Laura Lacy, told reporters she “had no idea (Babers) was feeling that way to discard” the baby.
The investigation was ongoing, and anyone with information about the death is urged to contact the Los Angeles Police Department’s Abused Child Unit at 213-486-0530.
A GoFundMe account has established on behalf of the family at gofundme.com/f/a-beautiful-home-going-for-baby-luna. The page had raised nearly $2,800 toward a $7,500 target as of Oct. 5.
