A 19-year-old Los Angeles woman was charged with murder Thursday after her 4-month-old daughter was found dead in a South LA dumpster — another child discarded in a city that spends billions on progressive programs but couldn't save the most vulnerable life in its jurisdiction.
Takiyah Rochelle Babers faces murder and assault on a child causing death charges, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. She's being held on $2 million bail. The baby, identified by foster grandparents as Luna, was found fully dressed, wearing gloves, in a black cloth bag inside a trash bin near Alba Street and Long Beach Avenue around 10:30 p.m. Monday. A neighbor taking out the trash initially thought the child was a doll.
This wasn't a snap decision. According to Najee Ali, an advocate speaking on behalf of Babers' foster parents, security camera footage from the apartment complex shows Babers throwing the child's body in the dumpster. Ring camera footage shows Babers turning off the apartment lights and turning on loud music almost immediately after her foster mother dropped the baby off Monday. A law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation confirmed Ali's account was accurate, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"That's why they believe she didn't just snap. It was planned. It was an intentional act of murder," Ali said on behalf of the foster parents.
Babers' foster parents, Herman Johnson and Laura Lacy, are left grieving a grandchild and questioning how this happened. "That was the sweetest little baby in the world. To be found in a Dumpster, dirty Dumpster, it just broke my heart," Johnson told Fox11. Lacy said she "had no idea (Babers) was feeling that way to discard" the baby. When Johnson confronted Babers Tuesday morning, she first claimed the baby was sleeping, then said the infant was at the father's home.
Luna had foster caregivers ready to raise her. She had a family that wanted her. And yet the system that progressive Los Angeles insists exists to protect children left a 19-year-old alone with an infant she allegedly planned to kill. The same city that funds sprawling social justice initiatives, that lectures the rest of the country about compassion, couldn't intervene before a baby ended up in a trash can.
Babers' arraignment was continued and she did not enter a plea. Her next court date is October 30. The LA County public defender's office, representing Babers, did not respond to a request for comment. The DA's office and LAPD declined to comment on the ongoing case.
Neighbors built a spontaneous memorial at the dumpster — candles, flowers, balloons tied to the bin where Luna was found. A GoFundMe for funeral expenses raised nearly $2,200 as of Thursday.
Los Angeles will hold press conferences about systemic inequity. It will demand more funding. What it won't do is explain how a baby with a willing foster family ended up dead in the garbage while every agency and program the city touts as a safety net looked the other way.
