Questions surround infant death in Opelika

After an Opelika infant was found dead in a drainage ditch Monday at Tree Top Apartments, residents and law enforcement officials are asking why?

Why would someone wrap an infant in fabric and carry the infant to a drainage ditch and walk away?

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris pronounced the infant dead at the scene at 9:45 a.m. Officials from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences transported the infant to Montgomery. As of press time, the gender, age and name of the infant have not been released. Opelika police Capt. Allan Elkins said he expected to know more today.

Apartment residents say the on-site maintenance man found the infant in the rain drainage ditch and immediately yelled out that someone needed to call 911.

In his 22 years on the force, Elkins said Monday’s tragedy was the first of its nature in the city.

“I can’t remember anything like this,” Elkins said.

With media staked out at the scene, constant Birmingham Highway traffic flow and curious residents milling around, local investigators and officials from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences held up a white sheet that hid the unthinkable.

“Whoever did this should go straight to prison,” resident Shaun Bowser said. “They should not get a trial or anything. They should go straight to prison.”

As Bowser held his 8-month-old daughter close, he just shook his head and said it didn’t make any sense.

Just last summer, Randall Kardoes was found shot at Tree Top. Police arrested Kiley Jackson in connection with the shooting death, Elkins said.

Resident Valeria Baker, the mother of three, could be seen standing outside her residence Monday watching officials secure the front yard where, she said, children normally play.

“It’s a sad day,” Baker said.

The case remains under investigation by the Opelika Police Department, the Lee County Coroner’s Office and the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.