The discovery of a dismembered infant in a south Los Angeles backyard on Sunday had sheriffs searching for the rest of the body parts and asking neighbors for their help.
Log Angeles County sheriffs received a suspicious circumstance call at around 11 a.m. after a girl playing with her dog outside her Westmont home found a baby's leg, NBC Los Angeles reported.
"The dog was sniffing the ball...so I was going to get the ball and I got it. I saw the leg," 9-year-old Britany Placencia told the station. She ran and told her mother, who then called 911.
Sheriffs arrived on the scene and determined the leg belonged to an infant about 1 or 2 days old. A head was later found in the same yard.
"The infant appears to have been dismembered. Significant portions of the body are still missing," the Los Angels County Sherifs Department said.
Police urged residents near the home in the unincorporated Westmont area to search their properties for "suspicious items that have been discarded."
No other information, including the infant's sex, was available at this time. Investigators said they are now searching for the mother.
"Detectives would like to speak with any females who were recently pregnant, are no longer pregnant, and the baby is absent.
