PORT ANGELES — Police will today begin sorting through 60 tons of garbage in search of an infant’s body.
The infant — a boy — died shortly after his birth on Tuesday at 3 a.m., Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher said on Sunday.
The 16-year-old mother of the child — who was not identified because she is a minor — was arrested Friday on investigation of first-degree murder.
The girl’s father, Ronald Last Jr., 41, was also arrested on investigation of concealing the birth by disposing of the body.
“This is a very sad case,” Gallagher said.
“I think it is particularly tragic that this girl had so little support that she wasn’t able to recognize any other option than what happened.”
Police heard about the incident when a woman went into the police station at about 12:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon and said she had seen a baby in a trash can in an alley behind the girl’s home at 116 E. 12th St.
The trash was collected on Friday by the time police arrived, Gallagher said.
The trash, which is usually transported to a transfer station in Tacoma and then taken to an Oregon landfill, was in one of two, 30-ton containers.
The transfer station in Tacoma is not large enough to empty the containers and sort through the garbage, Gallagher said, so the two containers have been taken to a facility in Graham.
“There will likely be some heavy machinery to help sort through the garbage,” Gallagher said.
“We believe that it is at least somewhat compacted. The machines will slowly pick through the garbage with the investigators nearby.”
Investigators will include technicians with the Washington State Crime Lab in addition to police, Gallagher said.
“We’ll have all of the investigators standing by as the machines take the garbage bit by bit so they can search for the tiny corpse,” Gallagher said.
If the body of the baby boy is found, an autopsy will be conducted to formally determine the cause of death, Gallagher said.
Last remains in custody at the Clallam County jail and the girl is still in custody at the Clallam County Youth Center.
Bail had not yet been set for Last, and bail information was not available on the girl.
Gallagher said formal charges will be up to Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Kelly.
Typically first-degree murder is when there is premeditation — “even a second of forethought” — Gallagher said.
Second-degree murder is when a person is responsible for a death, but it wasn’t premeditated, he said.
“But there is room in the law for the vulnerability of the victim,” he said.
“This victim was particularly vulnerable, and we arrested the girl for first-degree murder.”
Gallagher said that police do have an idea on how the death of the baby occurred, but declined to elaborate.
“I feel it is inappropriate to release that information at this time,” he said.
It would be up to Kelly to request the judge to try the girl as an adult if she felt that was appropriate, Gallagher said.
“Then it would be up to the judge, in the end,” he said.
“But with the details of this case, I feel that is very unlikely.”
In addition to the 16-year-old and Last, four adult males and several other juveniles were living at the home, Gallagher said.
A man who answered the door on Sunday declined to comment.
Gallagher said, according to people who had seen the baby, he appeared to be full-term.
He said that some people who knew the girl and her father knew she was pregnant and others did not.
“With the style of clothing, which is very baggy, it was not evident to everyone that she was pregnant,” he said.
The 16-year-old girl is believed to have delivered the baby at the house on Tuesday morning.
She was provided medical care before she was incarcerated, Gallagher said.
“I don’t believe that she had any medical care before we took her into custody,” he said.
The girl had moved to Port Angeles from Pueblo, Colo., in October.
Gallagher said he was not sure why the girl’s mother, who still lives there, had brought her to live with her father.
Gallagher said he did not know the name of the infant’s father, but that law enforcement in Pueblo had been contacted as part of the investigation.
“We do know that he is an adult, not a minor,” Gallagher said.
He said he was unsure if any charges would be filed there.
“I don’t know Colorado law well enough to know if statutory rape charges would happen, and I don’t know what their relationship was like,” Gallagher said.
“But if anything like that were to happen, it would be in Colorado — not here.”
During a search of the home for which they had a search warrant, the police found what they believed at the time to be a pipe bomb. It was taken away by the Washington State Patrol bomb squad for destruction.
“We have since learned that it was not a pipe bomb, but a devise used to transport drugs,” Gallagher said.
“What they do is put drugs inside, and it has magnets inside as well, and they attach it to the bottom of a car.
“It is a fairly common method.”
Gallagher said a gun — which Last said belonged to him — was also found in the house.
Because Last is a convicted felon, charges related to possession of a weapon will probably also evolve from the case, Gallagher said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
