LOS ANGELES — It was 30 years ago when a man searching for recyclables made a disturbing discovery along a narrow road in Las Lomas, a small rural community in Monterey County. Inside a red paper bag, he found the lifeless body of a baby boy wrapped in a pink and blue blanket.
Coroner officials did not know how the infant died but determined he was a few days old and had not been stillborn.
Shortly after, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office investigators fanned out across the area, questioning residents near Garin and Lewis roads where the boy was found, hoping to identify the infant and his mother. They chased down leads but hit dead ends, and eventually the case turned cold.
But on Thursday morning, sheriff’s investigators served an arrest warrant at a Watsonville home, where a woman believed to be the infant’s mother was taken into custody on suspicion of murder. Authorities identified her as 60-year-old Pamela Ferreyra.
Andres Rosas, a Monterey County sheriff’s commander, announced Ferreyra’s arrest during an afternoon news conference.
He said the woman’s was taken into custody six miles northwest from the Dec. 3, 1994, crime scene.
Monterey County authorities have yet to disclose the circumstances behind the boy’s death. Although the cause of death is unknown, they said there was sufficient evidence to support Thursday’s arrest and felony charge. Ferreyra is scheduled to make her first court appearance on Friday.
During the news conference, Rosas also read a statement from Monterey County Sheriff Tina M. Nieto, who was unable to attend.
“This is a sad situation all around,” she said in her statement. “We named the baby Garin not only for the area where he was found but also because we stand as guardians for our community.”
She added: “The name Garin means protection. Every child deserves protection and people to advocate and seek justice for them.”
Rosas said the case was reopened last year when a task force with the Monterey County district attorney’s office that specializes in cold cases teamed up with sheriff’s investigators.
He said county investigators sent DNA forensic evidence to the U.S. Department of Justice, which then shipped it to a lab in Texas that was able to produce a DNA profile. Rosas said that DNA strand was sent to a genealogy company in Colorado, which was then able to provide new leads.
Task force detectives “were then able to conduct follow-up interviews and obtained DNA samples which ultimately led to the identification of Baby Garin’s mother,” Rosas said.
Monterey County Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew L’Heureux said since the creation of the cold case task force four years ago, its detectives had helped solved nine homicides that resulted in murder charges against nine suspects, of which four have been convicted and five others are awaiting trial.
He said he hoped Thursday’s arrest would encourage the public to come forward about other cold cases.
“These cases still matter,” he said. “We care about all victims regardless of whenever these crimes took place.
“We’re not going to stop working on [them] until these cases get solved.”