Baby death: Body of 1-year-old found in California river; father arrested, police say

Body of Leilani Dream Burley found in Long Beach, California; Jayveyon Burley accused of throwing child off bridge

ByJory Rand, Sid Garcia KABC logo
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Baby found dead in Long Beach as police arrest father
An Inglewood father has been arrested for murder after his baby daughter's body was recovered from the Los Angeles River in Long Beach.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- A California father is under arrest for murder after his baby daughter's body was recovered from the Los Angeles River in Long Beach, police said Tuesday.



Inglewood, California police were contacted Sunday night about a missing child after a father picked up his two children from their mother in Long Beach and then showed up to his home in Inglewood with only one child.



The suspect's mother contacted police because she was concerned about her 1-year-old granddaughter, Leilani Dream Burley.


Police investigated the missing child, and found her body in the Los Angeles River below the Ocean Boulevard Bridge, a location which is close to where the river empties into the bay.



RELATED: Body pulled from lake ID'd as 21-year-old missing man from Poland, last seen at River North bar



The father, identified as Jayveyon Burley, 22, was arrested for murder and child endangerment and booked into the Inglewood jail.



"My daughter was murdered by her father," Lynisha Hull told ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC. "He threw her off the bridge."



Hull said Burley normally picks up both their children on Sunday nights and returns them to her on Wednesdays.



He was angry at the time he picked them up but didn't say or do anything that would foreshadow what he was then accused of doing.



"He came to my home to pick up my kids," she said. "He was angry at the time but normal, though. He was normal. He didn't look like he was panicked at the time at all."

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