Detectives in California cracked the 37-year-old murder of a newborn baby found in a dumpster in Riverside and arrested the infants mother in North Carolina.

Riverside Police said the infants body was found by a man rummaging for recyclables on October 13, 1987, and the baby girl’s death was ruled a homicide, although police did not release a cause of death.

But the case went cold before any suspect was identified.

That changed in 2020 when the department formed a Cold Case Unit and reopened the case, working with a regional cold case team to eventually match the baby’s DNA with 55-year-old Melissa Jean Allen Avila.

Police said Avila was 19 in 1987, “and detectives have no reason to believe the baby’s father had any criminal culpability in the murder.”

With the assistance of US Marshals, Avila was found in Shelby, North Carolina, and extradited to California.

She has been charged with one count of murder and is being held on a $1.1 million bond.

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[Featured image: Scene where discarded baby was found. Inset: Melissa Jean Allen Avila/Riverside Police Department]