The baby girl known only as Jane Doe #83 was found dead on Monday, December 10, 2012, in the City of Industry. She had no name, and no one has ever come forward to say who she was. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case handled by the department's Homicide Bureau.
According to a news report published the next day, a worker discovered the baby's body just before 2 p.m. on a conveyor belt at Athens Services, a trash collection and recycling company on the 14000 block of Valley Boulevard. She was declared dead at the scene. Detectives said she appeared to be full term and in good health. At first, an autopsy was pending to determine whether she had been stillborn or had been alive and dumped after birth. The trash she was found in had been collected that Monday from various areas around the San Gabriel Valley. In a statement, Athens Services said it was "saddened by the tragic discovery on our sort lines" and that it had immediately contacted the Sheriff's Department.
A year later, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that her death had been ruled a homicide, but that detectives did not want the cause of death released because the investigation was still open. There had been no arrests. Authorities believed the baby had been placed in the trash, but where that trash came from had not been determined. "That trash came from all over the South Bay and the San Gabriel Valley," Sheriff's Homicide Detective Gary Sica told the paper. He asked for the public's help. "I'm looking for anyone with information on this case. may have talked to somebody or somebody knew she was pregnant and was then without child," Sica said.
That is the heart of the mystery. A full-term pregnancy is hard to hide entirely. Someone may have noticed a woman who was expecting a baby in late 2012 and then, suddenly, was not, with no infant at home and no explanation.
The City of Industry is an unusual place. It is a largely industrial city in the San Gabriel Valley, lined with warehouses, factories, distribution centers and rail yards, and very few people actually live there. Valley Boulevard is one of its main commercial corridors. A trash sorting facility there receives loads from many surrounding communities, which is why investigators could not easily trace where the baby had been discarded.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jane Doe #83 could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew of a woman in the South Bay or the San Gabriel Valley who was pregnant in late 2012 and then no longer had a baby, or who saw something near a trash bin around December 10, 2012, may hold information that could help. The Tribune listed Detective Sica's number as 323-890-5650. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
