Mom of baby found dead in Bellflower says she got disturbing phone call from father

BELLFLOWER, Calif. (KABC) -- The mother of an 8-month-old baby girl whose body was found in Bellflower shared a photo of the infant Tuesday and said she got a disturbing phone call from the child's father, who is missing and is a person of interest in the death.

The photo shows little Alexia Rose Echeverria with her mother, Karla Alvarado.

The baby's body was found behind a dumpster in Bellflower on Monday, treated like a piece of trash. She was in a car seat, partially covered by a blanket.

Exactly where and how her life ended remains a mystery, as is the whereabouts of her father, 22-year-old Sacramento County man Alexander Echeverria, with whom she was last seen.

Alexia's mother said she saw Alexander and her daughter on a FaceTime video chat early Sunday. Then, later that day, she got a disturbing phone call.

"At around 4 p.m., he called me crying hysterically," Alvarado shared. "He couldn't even talk, and I was super scared. I was like, 'What's going on? Did something happen to Alexia, did you get into a car accident? What happened?' 'Cause there was a lot of noise in the background, and he couldn't tell me. He just kept crying and crying and crying, and I was like, 'What happened?'"

The case was turned over to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, which described the father as a person of interest in his daughter's death.

According to Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators, the father and child were last seen Friday evening in Bellflower as Alexander Echeverria was driving a gray 2014 Volkswagen Jetta with California license plate No. 7FFT866. Authorities said Alexander has family in the Bellflower area.

He is described by authorities as "at-risk" because his family says he suffers from depression.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Blagg or Detective Lawler of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Missing Persons Detail at (323) 890-5500. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-Tips (8477).