Search for Baby's Remains Continues in Middlesex County Landfill

New Brunswick, NJ - Police officers continue to search an East Brunswick landfill for the remains of a newborn baby boy who has been missing since last week.

The parents of the baby, a New Brunswick couple, have been charged with improperly disposing of the child's body and lying to the police about what happened to him. Jaciel Torres-Lopez, 34, and Mercedes Sanchez-Torres, 30, have both been charged with desecration of human remains.

When the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office first announced the shocking allegation, on Friday, May 20, they incorrectly identified the name of a landfill that was being searched by law enforcement officers. The correct name is the Middlesex County Landfill, located on Edgeboro Road in East Brunswick. More than 30 officers a day are combing the 200-acre landfill.

The mother Sanchez-Torres, was admitted to St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick last week, after giving birth to a baby boy. However, the baby was not with her when she was admitted. The father, Torres-Lopez, was charged with giving conflicting accounts to the police about what happened to the infant.

What goes into the Middlesex County Landfill?

After they got conflicting reports of what happened from the parents, police assumed the worst. They authorized an excavation of a sewer line at the couple’s home on Remsen Avenue on Tuesday, May 17. They also began a search of the Middlesex County Landfill in East Brunswick on Wednesday, May 18.

25 towns, including New Brunswick, dispose of their solid waste at Middlesex County Landfill. Waste is deposited there ranging from the garbage we throw out every day in the trash, to construction debris, vegetative debris such as grass and branches and food-processing waste from packing plants and butchers.

Compactors are used to crush the trash before it is deposited into cells in the earth, and then buried with dirt.

As many as 19 bird species have been identified at the landfill, including bald eagles, red-tailed hawks and hummingbirds.

Stock image of a landfill