Los Angeles law enforcement officials are searching through a landfill site in California for the body of a missing 3-week-old baby after the mother was arrested on child abuse charges in Utah.
On Tuesday, detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department probed through piles of waste at the Antelope Valley landfill in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, hoping to find Baki Dewees.
The infant boy was born on April 14 and allegedly last seen alive with his father, Yusuf Dewees, on May 3, according to a flyer distributed by family members all over social media.
In a press release, the sheriff's department said that "during the early stages, the investigation transitioned from a missing child search to a death investigation," reported NBC News.
The statement confirmed that the boy's parents, who also have three other children, were both arrested and are being held on custody charges unrelated to the missing infant.
Lt. Omar Camacho told the Los Angeles Times:
"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."
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.
The father was arrested on May 7 on charges of obstruction of justice and falsifying a statement to be used at a preliminary hearing.
The baby's grandfather, Brad Parke, spoke with NBC Los Angeles, making a plea to find the baby boy.
"We just want to know where the baby's at. Hoping that the baby's alive, praying that the baby's actually alive."
Sofia Paulo, Baki's grandmother, who has looked to social media for help, told NBC that the infant was only a few days old when Gaoa was arrested on suspicion of child abuse while staying at a shelter in Utah.
There has been no indication as to what evidence led police to that specific landfill site.
