{"id":171309,"date":"2026-02-10T03:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T03:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/171309\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T03:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T03:38:09","slug":"dead-baby-found-near-shopping-center-dumpster-bakersfield-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/171309\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead baby found near shopping center dumpster: Bakersfield police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 A newborn baby was found dead next to a dumpster in a south Bakersfield shopping center Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At about 1:30 a.m. on Monday, Bakersfield police were called to Plaza Vallarta near Panama Lane. It\u2019s believed the woman gave birth to the baby in the space between two dumpsters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It\u2019s not known if the child was born alive, but according to a manager at one of the stores, Wingstop workers first called 911 after hearing the cries of a baby from behind the store.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When police arrived, they found a lifeless newborn. They pronounced the baby deceased. Police did not say if the child was a male or female and provided no further description. The mother of the newborn was also at the scene and was taken to the hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">No arrests have been made as of Monday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This incident comes on the heels of the Department of Human Services requesting the Board of Supervisors commemorate February as Safely Surrendered Baby Awareness Month during its Tuesday meeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/woman-charged-fire-burned-man-005345948.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Woman charged in fire that burned man in Taft;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Woman charged in fire that burned man in Taft <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Along with the proclamation, DHS wants to educate the community about the importance of the Safely Surrendered for Newborns law. The law gives parents up to 72 hours to surrender their child to local fire stations or hospitals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Since 2006, 105 babies have been safely surrendered in Kern County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a statement from Kern DHS, they say it\u2019s safe and it\u2019s legal. Under this law, a person may surrender their baby confidentially without fear of arrest or prosecution for abandonment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A similar proclamation is also set for the Bakersfield City Council.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For anyone that is considering a safe surrender of a newborn, infants can be dropped off at any local fire station or hospital emergency room. You can also call 211 or 1-877- 222-9723 or BABYSAF for help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Bakersfield Police Department is still investigating this incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kget.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 A newborn baby was found dead next to a dumpster in a south Bakersfield&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,324,82106],"class_list":{"0":"post-171309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news","11":"tag-bakersfield-police-department","12":"tag-newborn-baby"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}