Takiyah Babers

Introduction

Takiyah Rochelle Babers is a 19-year-old Los Angeles woman charged with murder in the death of her 4-month-old daughter, Luna Babers, who was found unresponsive inside a trash bin near the Pueblo Del Rio housing project in South Los Angeles on the evening of September 28, 2026. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Babers on October 1, 2026 with one count of murder and one felony count of assault on a child causing death; she was arrested the day before and is being held on $2 million bail. She has not entered a plea, and the county coroner’s ruling that the baby died of blunt trauma stands alongside charges that remain allegations until a court decides them.

Background Information

Babers was known to the baby’s caretakers as a family member rather than a stranger: she is the foster daughter of Laura Lacy, the grandmother who had raised Luna since birth, according to accounts Lacy and her partner Herman Johnson gave to Los Angeles media. The family lived in the Pueblo Del Rio housing complex in the Central Alameda neighborhood, where Babers had been staying in an apartment nearby. On the evening of September 28, Lacy and Johnson dropped Luna off at the apartment where Babers was staying; when they learned the next morning that the baby was missing, they rushed back to the neighborhood and soon received word that the infant had died.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not adjudicated. Babers faces a murder count and a felony assault-on-a-child-causing-death count filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. She was arrested Tuesday, September 29 but did not enter a plea; her arraignment was postponed to October 30, 2026. The allegations below are unproven unless and until a court convicts her, and she is presumed innocent.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Newton Division officers responded around 10:30 p.m. on September 28 to the 5200 block of Alba Street on a radio call reporting a “death investigation.” A neighbor who had been looking for recyclables found the baby inside a trash bin, wrapped in a blanket; authorities said the infant had been left there within the previous 24 hours. Los Angeles firefighters and paramedics took Luna to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as blunt trauma, and investigators have said the baby’s final days are still being pieced together: police identified Babers as a suspect during the investigation and arrested her Tuesday without incident, booking her for murder. The District Attorney’s Office filed the two counts on October 1 — the murder count and assault on a child causing death, the latter carrying the allegation that the death occurred during the assault. Prosecutors said the charge filing came three days after the discovery, with the case already set for Babers’ next hearing.

The baby’s family has been public in its grief and its belief in her guilt. Lacy told Los Angeles media she had allowed Babers, her foster daughter, to visit the baby she had raised for four months, and after the arrest said: “I think it was premeditated. She did this on purpose. No way you’re gonna call somebody to pick up your baby… and then you do this.” Johnson, who drove the baby to Babers’ apartment that evening, said: “When I dropped that baby off yesterday… something told me that I shouldn’t have did it.” Babers’ foster sister Bianca Jones said at the scene: “She didn’t have to do this. She did not have to do this.” Babers herself has made no public statement, and no attorney for her was identified in coverage at the time the charges were announced.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew immediate local coverage and a community vigil in South Los Angeles, where residents paid respects to the baby identified by relatives as Luna. The image of an infant found in a trash bin blocks from her home — and the family’s account of handing her, unknowing, to the person now charged with her death — made the case a local flashpoint within days. The LAPD’s announcement of the arrest and the District Attorney’s Office’s filing of the two counts on consecutive days gave the case its formal public record, while the family’s statements gave it its emotional one.

Current Status

As of October 2, 2026, Babers is in custody on $2 million bail, charged with murder and felony assault on a child causing death. Her arraignment was postponed at her October 1 court appearance and is scheduled for October 30, 2026; she has not entered a plea, and no trial date exists. The medical examiner’s blunt-trauma finding stands as the official cause of death, and the investigation remains active — authorities have not ruled out additional charges.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 19, Babers faces a murder charge carrying a potential sentence of decades to life in prison, with $2 million bail ensuring she will wait for trial in custody unless a court lowers it. Whatever the outcome, the case has already made her name a permanent part of the public record through the criminal complaint, and the death of a 4-month-old in the care of family has left a grandmother and partner who raised the baby grieving on camera. Her next court date, October 30, is the next public marker in a case that will move at the pace of the Los Angeles criminal courts.

Sources

New York Post, “LA teenage mother charged with murder after allegedly dumping infant daughter in dumpster” (October 2, 2026) — source
CBS Los Angeles, “South LA mother charged with murder after her infant was found in dumpster” (October 2, 2026) — source
NBC Los Angeles, “Mom appears in LA courtroom after baby found in dumpster dies” (October 1, 2026) — source
ABC7, “Mother charged with murder after 4-month-old daughter found in South Los Angeles dumpster” (October 1, 2026) — source
New York Post, @nypost post on X (October 2, 2026) — source