Takiyah Rochelle Babers faces murder and child-assault counts after her 4-month-old daughter was found in a South Los Angeles trash bin.
LOS ANGELES, Ca. — A 19-year-old mother faces murder and felony child-assault charges after the Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that her 4-month-old daughter, found unresponsive in a South Los Angeles trash bin, died from blunt trauma and classified the death as a homicide.
The medical examiner’s finding transformed an early investigation that initially had few publicly known answers about the infant’s death. Prosecutors charged Takiyah Rochelle Babers with one count of murder and one felony count of assault on a child causing death. The baby was later identified in medical examiner records as Luna Babers. Babers has not been convicted of either charge, and the homicide classification is a medical determination rather than a finding of criminal guilt. The prosecution still must prove its allegations in court.
The case began around 10:30 p.m. Sept. 28, when Los Angeles police officers responded to the 5200 block of Alba Street after receiving a report that a female infant had been found in a trash container. Officers found the baby unresponsive. Fire Department paramedics transported her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Detectives with the LAPD Juvenile Division’s Abused Child Section began investigating the circumstances surrounding the child’s death. At the time, police publicly described the victim only as a 4-month-old infant and did not say how she had been injured.
The discovery itself came from an ordinary nighttime encounter with the trash area. A woman who spoke to local news organizations said she noticed a bag while near the bin and looked more closely with the light from her phone. She initially thought the figure she saw was a doll. When she realized it was a baby, emergency help was called. Police and firefighters arrived, and the investigation quickly shifted from an effort to save an unidentified infant to determining who she was, where she had come from and what had happened before she was found.
Those questions began to converge on Babers after relatives of a missing baby recognized details in news coverage. Herman Johnson and Laura Lacy told reporters they had been caring for Babers’ daughter and had returned the infant to Babers earlier that evening. When they later heard that the unidentified child found in the trash had six toes on one foot, they recognized a feature shared by their granddaughter. The couple began trying to establish where the baby was and eventually provided information and photographs to police.
According to the relatives’ accounts, Babers did not give them a consistent explanation. Johnson and Lacy said they were first told the baby was sleeping and later heard that she was with her biological father. FOX 11 reported that family members also questioned a video presented as evidence that the child was safe because they believed it had been recorded earlier. Those accounts became part of the public narrative surrounding the investigation, though the precise content and evidentiary significance of any statements attributed to Babers will be matters for the criminal case.
Police arrested Babers on Sept. 29. In announcing the arrest, the LAPD identified her as the infant’s biological mother and said she had been booked on suspicion of murder with bail set at $2 million. The department did not announce a motive. Investigators said the matter would be presented to prosecutors for consideration of charges. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office later filed the murder and child-assault counts, moving the case from an arrest-stage investigation into a formal prosecution.
Publicly reported video evidence may become an important part of that prosecution. Najee Ali, an advocate speaking for Babers’ foster parents, told the Los Angeles Times that surveillance footage appeared to show Babers disposing of the child’s body in the trash bin. He also described residential camera footage from around the time the baby was dropped off. A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told the newspaper that Ali’s description was accurate. The recordings have not been publicly aired in full, and reports available so far do not establish how prosecutors intend to use them in court.
The medical examiner’s later finding answered one major question while leaving several others unresolved. Records reported Oct. 5 identified blunt trauma as Luna’s cause of death and homicide as the manner. Authorities have not publicly released a detailed account of the injuries in the reporting reviewed for this article, and no such graphic description is necessary to understand the central allegation. The key medical fact is that the death was determined to have resulted from inflicted force rather than a natural cause or accident, while responsibility remains for the judicial process to decide.
The case also involves a complicated caregiving arrangement. Lacy and Johnson said they had been raising Luna because Babers was not prepared to care for the infant on her own. Lacy has described Babers as a foster daughter whom she raised from childhood, meaning the woman now accused of killing Luna was herself part of the household’s long family history. The couple said Luna had spent most of her life in their care before Babers asked to have the baby with her on Sept. 28. Their decision to comply became a source of anguish after the infant’s death.
That anguish became visible at a memorial near the site where the baby was discovered. Community members left candles, balloons and flowers, while relatives publicly mourned the infant they had cared for. Family members also expressed anger toward Babers and offered their own theories about what had happened. Those comments reflect the family’s grief but are not substitutes for evidence. Whether prosecutors can prove premeditation, intent or any other required element will depend on admissible evidence presented through the court process.
The procedural status of the prosecution is less clear than the underlying charging decision. Babers appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Oct. 1, but the arraignment was continued and she did not enter a plea at that hearing, according to the Los Angeles Times. Reports at the time listed Oct. 30 as her next court date and said she remained held in lieu of $2 million bail. The public defender’s office was representing her. No sufficiently authoritative source reviewed for this article confirms the result of the scheduled Oct. 30 proceeding.
Medical findings have answered how Luna died, but the criminal case must determine legal responsibility. Prosecutors allege Babers committed murder and assault on a child causing death, while the available public record still leaves key evidence, including the full context of surveillance recordings, outside open court. No verified report reviewed through Nov. 10 confirms a later plea or disposition following the Oct. 30 date previously set for arraignment.
Author note: Last updated November 10, 2026.