Police Investigate Dead Baby Found at Long Island Trash Facility

Police are investigating after a dead baby was found at a Long Island trash facility. 

Nassau County police say they received a call Tuesday afternoon reporting a baby not breathing found at the recycling center in Lawrence, its umbilical cord still attached. When officers arrived, the infant was pronounced dead. The case is being investigated as a homicide.

Investigators are attempting to figure out when the baby was born and whether it ended up at the facility after being left in the trash along a garbage route that feeds the plant. Authorities are also trying to determine exactly how the child died, police say. 

Timothy Jaccard, who runs Nassau County's Safe Haven program, says if history is any indication, there's a good chance the mother is young and was unaware she had options. The mother could have called the Safe Haven hotline or left the baby at a hospital or police station, no questions asked, he said. 

Sanitary District No. 1, located at 1 Bay Boulevard in Lawrence, is one of five independent sanitary districts within the town of Hempstead, according to its website.

The district provides municipal solid waste collection, recycling, transfer and disposal services to more than 50,000 residents and other commercial properties in several Long Island communities.

--Ann Givens and Ida Siegal contributed to this story

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