A woman has been arrested and faces charges in the death of a newborn baby girl whose body was found inside a dumpster 37 years ago in Southern California.
The baby’s body was found on Oct. 13, 1987, by a man rummaging for recyclables in a dumpster behind a business on the 5400 block of La Sierra Avenue in Riverside.
The newborn’s death was ruled a homicide by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office and although the Riverside Police Department investigated the case, “all leads were exhausted and a suspect was not identified.”
The investigation was eventually closed until the Police Department formed a homicide cold case unit in 2020 and a new generation of detectives began looking into the child’s death.
Through modern DNA technology, detectives were able to identify the baby’s mother as 55-year-old Melissa Jean Allen Avila.
Avila was 19 at the time of the baby’s death.
After she was identified, local police worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate Avila, who had since left Riverside County and California altogether.
She was eventually located in Shelby, North Carolina, and was arrested by local authorities for murder. On Monday, she was brought back to Riverside County to face charges for killing her daughter.
She’s currently housed at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and is being held on $1.1 million bail.
Avila is due in court on Sept. 9, at which point she is expected to be charged with first-degree murder.
Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said his department and the detectives working cold cases are dedicated to “seeking justice for homicide victims and ensuring their families find closure.”
The Riverside Police Department also said the arrest would not have been possible without help from law enforcement partners across the state and nation, as well as the nonprofit organization Season of Justice, which helped fund the DNA analysis that ultimately led to the identification of the newborn baby and the person accused in her death.
“This victim now has an identity, bringing resolution to the case,” Gonzalez said.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the 1987 homicide or the suspect is urged to contact the RPD Homicide Cold Case Unit by email or by calling 951-320-8000.
Detectives say they do not have any reason to believe the baby’s biological father has any “criminal culpability in the murder.”
To read more of the cold case homicides in the Riverside area that remain unsolved, click here.
In 2001, California passed the Safe Arms for Newborns law which allows a parent or legal guardian to confidentially surrender a newborn, three days or younger, to any hospital emergency room or fire station.
If the baby has not suffered abuse or neglect, that person may surrender the child without fear of arrest or prosecution, police officials said.
For more information about these safe surrender sites, as well as additional resources for parents in need, visit the California Department of Social Services website.