A Southern California teenager is accused of killing her infant daughter and discarding her body in a trash bin, where a neighbor searching for recyclables mistook the child for a discarded doll.
Takiyah Babers, 19, faces a murder charge in the death of her 4-month-old daughter, Luna Lacy, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police began investigating around 10:30 p.m. Monday after neighbors found the infant in a trash bin at an apartment complex in the 5200 block of Alba Street. Paramedics took Luna to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
According to Fox affiliate KTTV, a neighbor rummaging through the bin for recyclables noticed a heavy bag and used her phone’s flashlight to see inside. She initially believed she’d stumbled on a doll, but then realized she was looking at a child. She had her daughter call 911.
As officers worked to figure out who the baby was and how she died, two other complex residents, Herman Johnson and Laura Lacy, were watching a news broadcast about the case. A detail released by investigators stopped them cold — the child found in the trash had six toes, a distinctive trait shared by their granddaughter, Luna.
Johnson and Lacy had been raising the infant since her birth on May 25. Johnson told CBS affiliate WCAL that Babers, his foster daughter, wasn’t able to care for the baby, so the couple stepped in. He said Babers had called him earlier that Monday asking to see Luna.
“I should have just kept her like I started to do, but that’s just a back thought,” Johnson said.
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Once the couple connected the news report to their granddaughter, they demanded Babers bring Luna to them. Instead, they say, she began offering shifting explanations — first claiming the baby was asleep, then saying Luna was with her biological father, a man who had never been part of the child’s life.
The grandparents called police, and Babers was arrested shortly afterward.
“It’s a sad situation,” Johnson told WCAL. “The baby can’t protect herself. She was just an innocent little baby.”
Babers is being held at the Los Angeles County Jail on $2 million bond. Investigators say prosecutors with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office will decide whether to formally file charges. No court date has been set yet.
Police have not released details on how the infant died or what may have motivated the killing.
For Luna’s grandparents, the loss remains hard to process.
“Why would you throw her away? She didn’t do anything,” Lacy said. “What did you call me to bring her home for? Why would you call me … and then do this to her? I don’t believe this. I’m still in disbelief.”
