Mother, man charged in disposal of dead baby in Hollywood dumpster; cause of death unknown
Two months after a roofing worker found the body of a baby boy in a Hollywood dumpster, the baby’s mother and a man police say disposed of the body are facing criminal charges.
Brenda Feliciano, 36, was already in jail on unrelated charges and is now charged with failure to report a death, while Terence Briggance Warren, 60, was arrested Thursday on charges of failure to report a death and improper disposal of a body.
The cause of the baby’s death remains unknown: medical examiners saw no signs of foul play or decomposition but were still testing to determine if he was born alive, police say.
Related Articles
Crime and Public Safety | Listen to 911 call | Baby found dead in dumpster was infant boy, police say
Crime and Public Safety | Baby’s body found in trash bin near Hollywood apartment building
Police had responded to the dumpster the morning of Jan. 8 after receiving a 911 call from a supervisor at the roofing company, who said that his employee had discovered the body in a bag in the dumpster in the 1700 block of Rodman Street, according to a probable cause affidavit.
“Yes, good morning. I am calling because one of my job sites, we’re a roofing company, we have a found a child in a dumpster,” the caller said. “Child, a kid, a human,” he repeated to the dispatcher.
The roofing employee who discovered the baby told detectives that he had noticed that the garbage chute from the roof to the dumpster was clogged, and when he went to unclog it, he smelled a “foul odor,” according to the affidavit. He then saw the bag with the baby inside and told his supervisor.
Related Articles
Crime and Public Safety | Listen to 911 call | Baby found dead in dumpster was infant boy, police say
Fire Rescue found the baby in a reusable Aldi shopping bag, which they removed from the dumpster, pronouncing him dead on scene. He looked healthy with no signs of trauma, injury, or decomposition, first responders and medical examiners found. His umbilical cord was still attached, and the shopping bag also contained the placenta, blood, and other “products of conception.”
The medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy, according to the affidavit, which also did not show any signs of trauma. They said that the cause of death remained undetermined, and were performing further tests, including toxicology, to try to figure out if the baby was born alive or stillborn.
Video surveillance taken outside of the dumpster showed a man later identified as Warren stop his Kia Sorrento, get out, reach into the passenger window and throw a bag into the dumpster, according to the affidavit. Warren lives a block away from the dumpster.
Detectives met with Warren, who allowed them to search his car and cellphone. On Jan. 2, a contact saved as “F. Brenda” texted Warren, “I’m almost F******* 40 weeks pregnant. What are you talking about!”
The affidavit does not provide the relationship between Warren and Feliciano or between Warren and the baby.
On Feb. 8, Warren identified Feliciano to police as the mother of the baby, according to the affidavit. That same day, officers in the Street Crimes Unit arrested her on an unrelated narcotics warrant. The statement she gave to detectives afterwards is redacted.
The handles of the Aldi bag later came back as a match with Feliciano’s DNA, according to the affidavit.
She is being held in the Paul Rein Detention Facility, where she faces charges of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia on top of the failure to report charge, inmate records show. Warren, meanwhile, has been released from Broward Main Jail on bond.
Staff writer Angie DiMichele contributed to this report.
