An autopsy on baby Mercy was inconclusive because of the state of decomposition of the tiny body, and according to reports worms found in the decomposed baby’s clothing were also dead and dried up.
The autopsy was conducted by pathologist Eslyn Burris-McDonald last Friday at the Forensic Science Centre.
Police took the remains of the baby who was found dead in a small wooden home at Sobo Village, La Brea, last Thursday, following a tip-off which led to the discovery of the dead baby. The baby girl named Mercy was clad in a matching onesie, booties and was wearing pampers.
Well-placed sources who witnessed the autopsy told the Guardian that contrary to what the baby’s grandmother is saying Mercy is in fact dead.
The Guardian understands that when the autopsy was conducted the pathologist determined that the baby’s skull was not fused together because of the age of the baby and because of the state of decomposition she could not determine the cause of death.
The Guardian was told that the pathologist shook the baby’s bones out of the onesie and the booties. There were worms in the onesie which were also dead and dried up.
One investigator told the Guardian that the baby may have died a natural death or was smothered to death by someone on the bed with her, and it could be that the family panicked.
But the baby’s grandmother Natalie Richins is insisting that “Mercy is alive, she is not dead.”
Richins, 40; her daughter, Nicolette Harry, 18; and two other children—ages 13 and 14—spent five days at the La Brea Police Station in connection with the alleged death of two-month-old Mercy. They were released on Tuesday and the two younger children were released into the custody of their father.
Richins told the Guardian that Mercy was now nine months old, alive and well. She promised to reveal Mercy to the public soon. The question which is now engaging the attention of investigators is: Were there two babies? Richins is saying that Mercy is nine months old, but the baby on whom the autopsy was conducted was far younger. One source told the Guardian the baby may have been as young as two months old.
Richins has alleged there was a plot against her family and she would be going through the correct means to get justice. She has insisted that there were no remains in the house, asking reporters on Tuesday, “If there were remains in the house, why are we at home right now?
If they (Police) had all these things that they said they have, why are we home? Why were we kept all this time and we were never charged?” she asked.