Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division investigators have begun looking the Antelope Valley Landfill for the stays of an toddler who disappeared in Palmdale earlier this month, regulation enforcement officers mentioned late Tuesday.
“Sadly, this began off as a lacking toddler and now it’s a loss of life investigation,” Lt. Omar Camacho advised The Instances. “We’re looking [the landfill] based mostly on the place the investigation has taken us, and sadly we weren’t capable of finding something right now.”
The lacking little one, Baki Dewees, was born April 14 and final seen in Palmdale on Could 3, in accordance with a flier distributed by his household on Fb.
“My household & I [are] desperately asking to your assist,” the kid’s nice aunt wrote on Fb. “Baki is barely 3 weeks outdated. Please assist us carry Baki house to his grandmother.”
Two days after giving delivery, the mom — 25-year-old Rosealani Gaoa — was arrested in Ogden, Utah, on suspicion of aggravated little one abuse, intentional little one abuse and reckless little one abuse, jail information present.
On the time, Camacho mentioned, Gaoa’s 4 kids and the infant’s father had been all together with her in Utah. Afterward, household welfare officers there took custody of the kid on the middle of the abuse allegations. Camacho referred additional questions in regards to the nature of that case to officers in Ogden.
“We didn’t examine that case, nor did we have now the specifics of it,” he mentioned, noting that the alleged abuse occurred in Utah.
One regulation enforcement supply, who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly, mentioned the sufferer in that case is Baki’s oldest sister.
After Gaoa’s arrest, the youngsters’s father, Yusuf Dewees, 24, left Utah with the couple’s three remaining kids and returned to Palmdale, officers mentioned.
However he got here again to Ogden a number of days later, presumably in order that authorities there might interview him, Camacho mentioned. Jail information present he was arrested on Could 7 and held with out bail on suspicion of obstruction of justice and making a false assertion.
The regulation enforcement supply not cleared to talk publicly mentioned Dewees was arrested after being questioned about Baki’s disappearance and allegedly mendacity to police in Ogden. Camacho didn’t say whether or not the alleged obstruction stemmed from the incidents in California or in Utah.
Ogden Police Lt. Glen Buss mentioned police in Utah first contacted Dewees and Gaoa at a homeless shelter. He referred extra questions in regards to the nature of their arrest to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Division, saying the 2 departments are working in conjunction.
The case got here to the eye of Sheriff’s Division officers after the toddler’s grandmother made a lacking particular person report someday round Could 8. Deputies responded to the 2300 block of Carolyn Drive in Palmdale concerning her name, in accordance with a information launch. Camacho mentioned the matter was forwarded to the division’s Murder Bureau a day later. On Tuesday, he mentioned it was nonetheless too early within the investigation to launch details about why officers consider the kid is useless or how it’s suspected he died.
Searchers who started combing the landfill on Tuesday had been in search of “particular issues,” Camacho mentioned. However he mentioned discovering the kid’s stays might show a troublesome endeavor that may require slicing down by layers of refuse. The search might use equipment or cadaver canines, he mentioned, however “the one manner potential at occasions is simply with human fingers.”
Authorities will resume their search on Wednesday, in accordance with the regulation enforcement supply, who mentioned the couple lives in Palmdale.
“If we had believed that the kid was nonetheless alive we’d have requested the general public for assist,” Camacho mentioned. “However at this cut-off date, sadly, that’s not the case. Now we’re simply making an attempt to get some closure for the household.”
The remaining two kids in California have since been eliminated by little one welfare officers, Camacho mentioned. It was not clear why the household was in Utah.
