RIVERSIDE, California – Authorities have arrested the mother of a newborn baby girl who was found dead in a dumpster in Riverside, California, nearly 40 years ago.
The arrest follows a breakthrough in the case after the woman was identified using cutting-edge DNA technology.
The infant, discovered on October 13, 1987, behind a business in the 5400 block of La Sierra Avenue, was found by a man rummaging through recyclables. Riverside Police, who responded to the scene, ruled the baby’s death a homicide.
Despite an initial investigation, the case went cold as “all leads were exhausted and a suspect was not identified,” police said in a recent release.
In 2020, the Riverside Police Department’s Homicide Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation with support from Season of Justice, a nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance to law enforcement agencies and families seeking to resolve cold cases through DNA analysis and forensic genealogy.
This support enabled the department to work with Othram, a Texas-based lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy.
Othram’s scientists developed a DNA profile for the unidentified infant in November 2021, which was then used to generate potential leads on the baby’s relatives.
Through extensive analysis, investigators were able to identify the infant’s mother as 55-year-old Melissa Jean Avila.
Avila, who was 18 years old at the time of the baby’s death, was located in Shelby, North Carolina. She was arrested on August 9 in Shelby and subsequently extradited to Riverside County, California.
The case highlights the power of modern DNA technology in solving decades-old cold cases, bringing closure to long-standing mysteries.
The Riverside Police Department’s use of forensic genealogy has now provided the answers that eluded investigators for nearly four decades.
