Mont. Co. Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate death of infant found at dump

MARINA, Calif. (KION)

UPDATE 5/1/2020 4 p.m. The Monterey County Sheriff's Office said it is continuing to investigate the death of an infant found at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District.

It is currently being treated as a homicide, but Chief Deputy John Thornburg said that is normal procedure until it is proven otherwise.

The Sheriff's Office performed an autopsy on the child's body, but said there is currently no new information to release.

UPDATE 4/29/2020 9 p.m. Monterey County Sheriff's investigators continued combing through the recycling facility Wednesday where a female infant was found the day before in the afternoon by a worker.

The Sheriff's Office also performed an autopsy of the body of that infant, in order to figure out what exactly led to her death. It could prove more difficult because of the size of the infant.

The Materials Recovery Facility at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District located north of Marina was shut down to all workers as investigators searched the area for clues.

The infant was apparently found on the residue belt heading out of the facility, according to the MRWMD.

"You know, there's no set book to follow, steps to follow to be able to identify something like this," said Chief Deputy John Thornburg of the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.

Workers at that particular facility were sent home for the day on Wednesday.

The district covers multiple cities in all three Central Coast counties, and that means there is a wide swath to cover in the investigation.

The MRF, where the infant was found, processes things like cans, papers and bottles as well as construction and demolition material.

"We don't really know from which one of those way streams the victim came through," said Tim Flanagan, the MRWMD general manager.

The district has provided as much information into how the facility operates to the sheriff's office.

"I don't have information on the condition, nor would I would be able to go into it because depending on what it is, it may be very paramount to the investigation," said Chief Deputy Thornburg.

"We are at the very early stages trying to figure out what happened. I had one outlet ask me if this was suspicious, and just the mere fact that the body is at the dump is suspicious in and of itself," continued Thornburg. "But we will do everything we can, the detectives, the coroner detective, pathologist, to figure out why or who the person is, who the baby belonged to."

The sheriff's office did contact a pregnant woman of interest, but did find her child alive and well. While authorities are still not sure about the circumstances surrounding this incident, they want to remind the public there are ways to let go of a child safely and legally if you cannot care for it.

"Which is why California has laws that allows for parents to safely drop off children at hospitals and fire stations," said Chief Deputy Thornburg.

The MRWMD says they are going to provide on-site counselors to help workers who were involved process the situation that they went through.

As of Wednesday evening, the sheriff's office finished up their investigation on site and staff will return to work on Thursday morning.

UPDATE 4/29/2020 12:25 p.m. The Monterey Regional Waste Management District has responded to the discovery of a deceased infant at the facility Tuesday.

The infant's body was found by an employee at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in an area where residential and commercial recyclables from the Monterey Peninsula are sorted.

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office said detectives are starting a complex investigation into how the body ended up at the facility. They said the child was female.

Read the full statement from the Monterey Regional Waste Management District below:

"It is with great sadness that we report a deceased infant was found on the recycling sort line at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD) north of Marina in Monterey County, CA. The infant was
discovered at approximately 1:30 PM on April 28, 2020 by an MRWMD employee in the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where residential and commercial recyclables from the Monterey Peninsula region are sorted. Upon discovery, authorities were immediately alerted and arrived on the scene.

“We are beside ourselves with the news of this discovery. Our hearts go out to this young soul and deepest sympathies are with the family,” MRWMD General Manager, Tim Flanagan commented.

"Human Resources staff at the District are providing grief counseling sessions for employees as they return to work. Continued counseling will also be made available through the District’s Employer Assistance Program (EAP) as a part of standard employee benefits to provide emotional support to affected employees.

"MRWMD staff are cooperating with authorities to provide as much information about the child’s discovery as possible. Identifying information such as age, ethnicity and gender of the child has not been released.

"We thank the Monterey County Sheriff’s office for their diligence in this investigation. This is obviously heartbreaking for everyone involved."

KION's Josh Kristianto will have more tonight at 5 and 6 p.m.

PREVIOUS STORY: Detectives with the Monterey County's Sheriff's Office are making their way into the Monterey Regional Waste Management District in Marina after a report that an infant's body was found.

KION is told detectives have not recovered the body but are in the process of getting through the large waste site.

An employee at the dump found the deceased female infant and called authorities at about 1:30 p.m.

Deputy Chief John Thornburg tells KION detectives are beginning a complex investigation into how the baby ended up at the facility.

"Obviously this is heartbreaking for everybody involved," Commander Kathy Palazzolo said. "This is something we never ever want to deal with. But we will do our best to deal with it the best way possible."

We will have more information as soon as it becomes available.