Ellorah Rose Warner, 0

Ellorah Rose Warner, a three-week old girl, was found dead Saturday, Jan. 24, in the 20600 block of Newhall Avenue in Santa Clarita, according to law enforcement.

A couple walked into the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station Jan. 23 about 9:30 p.m. to report that their infant daughter was missing. Deputies from three stations set out on an all-night search with helicopters, dogs and the help of neighbors. They held the couple overnight for questioning and searched their apartment, authorities said.

About 7 a.m., the child’s father, Matthew Warner, 30, led deputies to a small, blue-gray truck parked outside an apartment complex in the 23600 block of Newhall Avenue about half a mile from the family’s home.

The baby was found dead in the front cab, said Lt. Holly Francisco of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Details of how she died were not released because of the pending investigation.

“It’s a tragic situation for everybody involved,” Francisco said, adding that the mother would be held for additional questioning. She des

Ellorah Rose Warner, a three-week old girl, was found dead Saturday, Jan. 24, in the 20600 block of Newhall Avenue in Santa Clarita, according to law enforcement.

A couple walked into the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station Jan. 23 about 9:30 p.m. to report that their infant daughter was missing. Deputies from three stations set out on an all-night search with helicopters, dogs and the help of neighbors. They held the couple overnight for questioning and searched their apartment, authorities said.

About 7 a.m., the child’s father, Matthew Warner, 30, led deputies to a small, blue-gray truck parked outside an apartment complex in the 23600 block of Newhall Avenue about half a mile from the family’s home.

The baby was found dead in the front cab, said Lt. Holly Francisco of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Details of how she died were not released because of the pending investigation.

“It’s a tragic situation for everybody involved,” Francisco said, adding that the mother would be held for additional questioning. She described the woman, whose name was not released, as distraught.

“She’s behaving as any mother who just lost their child would behave,” Francisco said.

People who lived at the quiet apartment complex where the couple lived with the baby and her grandmother were shaken by the news.

“I wish I could turn back the hands of time and I would have seen something,” said Mario Garcia, 36. “I would have stopped it.”

The children’s grandmother, Nan Allison, told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter had gone to her job as a daycare provider early Friday and left the baby with the father in the couple’s bedroom. Later in the day, Allison said she heard strange noises coming from the room and thought the baby’s crying seemed weak.

The woman became suspicious and tried to call police about 5 p.m., but the phone had been disconnected. Warner and the baby were gone by the time she called from a neighbor’s home, she said.

Warner, was charged Jan. 27 with murder, torture and sexual assault. The man had been under supervision by the Los Angeles County Probation Department because of previous convictions and is being held on $2.25-million bail.

In 2012, Warner was sentenced to two years in state prison after he was convicted of joyriding. Warner has been convicted of joyriding three other times since 2003.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

-- Los Angeles Times Staff