Police in California are currently searching a landfill site for the body of a missing 3-week-old infant. This search comes after the child's mother was arrested in Utah on child abuse charges.
Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are combing through waste at the Antelope Valley landfill in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, hoping to find the infant, Baki Dewees. According to a flyer distributed by family members on social media, the baby boy was born on April 14 and was last seen alive on May 3 in Palmdale. The flyer included a photo of Baki wearing a yellow sweater and green pants, stating that he was last seen with his father, Yusuf Dewees, 24.
The sheriff’s department initially responded to a report of a missing child at the 2300 block of Carolyn Drive in Palmdale. The investigation quickly shifted from a missing child search to a death investigation, the department said in a press release.
Both parents, who have three other children, are currently in custody on charges unrelated to the missing boy. Jail records show that the mother, Roselani Gaoa, 25, was arrested on April 16, just two days after Baki was born, on charges of intentional child abuse, reckless child abuse, and aggravated child abuse. Both are being held in Ogden, Utah, north of Salt Lake City. The baby's father, Yusuf Dewees, was arrested on May 7 on charges of obstruction of justice and making a false statement to be used at a preliminary hearing, records show.
There has been no indication so far of what evidence led police to the landfill site.
The LA County Sheriff's Department declined to comment further. Lt. Omar Camacho told the LA Times on Tuesday, "Unfortunately, this started off as a missing infant and now it is a death investigation. We’re searching [the landfill] based on where the investigation has taken us, and unfortunately we weren’t able to find anything today."
Brad Parke, the baby's grandfather, told NBC Los Angeles, "When the baby came up missing, that's when you know something is wrong. We just want to know where the baby's at. Hoping that the baby's alive, praying that the baby's actually alive." Parke also mentioned that the baby's mother, his step-daughter, had recently moved to California from Ohio with her husband and the couple's three other children, ages 1, 3, and 5. He said the family had moved to California, but "things didn't work out," and Yusuf Dewees wanted to "go his own way."
Sofia Paulo, Baki's grandmother, who has been pleading for help in finding him on social media, said in a phone call to NBC Los Angeles that Baki was only a few days old when Gaoa was arrested on suspicion of child abuse while staying at a shelter in Utah. Paulo raised the alarm after she called the shelter to check on Baki and found out he wasn't there.