Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives continued a search Wednesday of an Antelope Valley landfill for the remains of a missing 3-week-old baby.
Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department’s Palmdale Station initially responded Tuesday to a home on the 2300 block of Carolyn Drive in Palmdale regarding a report of a missing child. But the case quickly turned into a death investigation, and a search began for the “remains of the infant,” sheriff’s officials said.
According to family members, the missing infant is 3-week-old Baki Dewees, who has been missing since May 3 and was last seen with his father, 24-year-old Yusuf Dewees. The baby’s mother and father are in custody in Utah on unrelated charges, the sheriff’s department said.
The infant’s great-aunt wrote on Facebook last week that his father “took him out of his grandmother’s home and that was the last time anyone in my family saw him. His father is currently incarcerated in Utah.”
“My family and I (are) desperately asking for your help,” she wrote. “Baki is only 3 weeks old. Please help us bring Baki home to his grandmother.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Omar Camacho told the Los Angeles Times that two days after she gave birth to Baki on April 14, the child’s mother, 25-year-old Rosealani Gaoa, was arrested in Utah on child abuse allegations involving one of her other three children. The child involved in that case was placed in the custody of child welfare officials in Utah.
Following that arrest, Yusuf Dewees returned to Palmdale with the three other children but subsequently left and went back to Utah, and the infant Baki was never seen again. According to the Times, the other two children have also been placed in the care of welfare officials in Utah.
Dewees was subsequently arrested in Utah on suspicion of making a false statement and obstruction of justice. The Times reported that Dewees allegedly lied to police in Utah when questioned about the baby’s disappearance.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials got involved in the case last week when the child’s grandmother filed a missing person report.
It was still unclear what led investigators to the Antelope Valley Landfill, where searches were conducted Tuesday and Wednesday.
The infant’s great-grandmother told KCAL9 Wednesday the family is holding out hope that the child is still alive.
“We had no idea why he (Yusuf) is taking him away,” she said. “We don’t know what he was doing taking those two babies away from us. We’re still missing the great-grandson of mine.”
Anyone with information about this case was asked to call the Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous callers may call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or send tips to lacrimestoppers.org.
