Van Nuys Mother Held in Slaying of Newborn

A19-year-old Van Nuys woman was being held without bail Tuesday in connection with the mutilation murder of her newborn daughter, Los Angeles police said.

Lt. Vance Proctor said Martha Cordero apparently gave birth in the bathroom of her home Sunday night.

Cordero was taken by her mother to Olive View Mid-Valley Hospital in Van Nuys about 11:45 p.m. Sunday, and the hospital staff determined that she had just given birth, Proctor said. About 20 minutes later, Cordero’s sister took the baby to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, he said.

An autopsy conducted Tuesday by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office tentatively concluded that the baby died from blunt force and suffocation, Proctor said. Detectives determined that the baby’s body had been mutilated with a razor blade, Proctor said.

Cordero was arrested Monday morning at the hospital on suspicion of murder and was taken to the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center, Proctor said. She was being treated for loss of blood and is in satisfactory condition, he said.