Man rummaging through dumpster found dead baby in 1987, CA cops say. Now, mom arrested
A mother was arrested nearly four decades after her newborn baby girl was found dead inside a dumpster, California police say.
Using DNA, police identified Melissa Jean Allen Avila, 55, as a suspect in the baby’s death, the Riverside Police Department said in an Aug. 8 news release.
While a man was “rummaging for recyclables” on Oct. 13, 1987, he found the baby’s body inside a dumpster behind a Riverside business, police said.
The county coroner’s office ruled the newborn girl’s death a homicide, according to police.
After detectives exhausted all leads, the case went cold and no suspect was identified, police said.
When detectives reopened the case in 2020, they sent DNA evidence to Othram Inc. in hopes of identifying the baby using forensic genetic genealogy, the company said in a news release.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
Othram said it created a DNA profile for the baby, and it was given to the police department’s forensic genetic genealogy team.
The team then created new leads to further the investigation, which pointed investigators to the girl’s potential relatives, Othram said.
This led police to identify Avila as a suspect in the baby’s death.
“Avila was 19 at the time of the baby’s death,” police said, adding that detectives do not believe the baby’s father had a role in her death.
With help from the U.S. Marshals Service, Avila was found in Shebly, North Carolina, and extradited to California to stand trial, police said.
Avila was booked into jail on a murder charge on Aug. 5 and is being held on $1,100,000 bail, police said. She is expected to appear in court on Sept. 9, online jail records show.
Riverside is about a 55-mile drive east from Los Angeles.
This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Man rummaging through dumpster found dead baby in 1987, CA cops say. Now, mom arrested."
