Investigators in the Los Angeles area on Monday were probing possible ties between the discoveries of an infant’s and man’s bodies in divergent locations, as well as a deadly SUV crash.
Four law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the effort to connect the three incidents and said the California Highway Patrol Major Crimes Unit is asking for help from anyone who may have information about them.
The discovery of a body believed to be that of a girl younger than 1 happened about 4:30 a.m. along Interstate 405 along a boundary between Culver City and the city of Los Angeles, the sources said.
The freeway takes motorists between Orange County and the San Fernando Valley along a western part of Los Angeles County.
Another child, a girl younger than 10, was rescued from the scene and hospitalized, the law enforcement sources said. Her condition was unavailable.
Identities were not released, and authorities were not yet saying how they believe the child died.
About 30 minutes later, Redondo Beach police reported a fatal crash along another north-south roadway, the Pacific Coast Highway.
A vehicle ran into a tree, and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, police said in a statement. The police department said it was withholding her name until loved ones could be notified.
The crash, involving a Porsche SUV, is the second of three scenes being investigated, the law enforcement sources said.
More than 30 miles north, a “possible victim down” was reported about 7:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills, the law enforcement sources and Los Angeles police said.
Responding officers found a man dead, the police department said. Authorities were investigating the death as a murder, the law enforcement sources said.
“While conducting their investigation homicide detectives learned of two additional incidents that occurred earlier in the morning, one on the 405 Freeway involving two young children and a second in Redondo Beach involving a traffic collision,” the police department said in a statement.
It said it was working with the highway patrol and Redondo Beach police to determine how the three scenes might be tied together.
Authorities were asking anyone with information to come forward.