Toddler abandoned in car at Long Beach aquarium

A 2-year-old girl was left strapped in her safety seat in a locked car behind the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach Wednesday night, and police were searching for her mother, her mother’s boyfriend and the couple’s newborn daughter.

“We have their car, we have their toddler, but we don’t know what happened to [the couple] and we don’t know where their 5-day-old infant is,” Long Beach Police Sgt. David Cannan said Thursday.

The toddler, Angelina Garcia, dressed in what looked like a small adult T-shirt and showing no obvious signs of neglect, slept as police worked to open the lock on the door of the older-model tan Nissan, Cannan said.

Her noncustodial father was located, but Angelina will remain in protective custody with the county Department of Children and Family Services for now.

“We’re going to hang on to her,” Cannan added, “until we know exactly what occurred here.”

Detectives traced the Nissan to previous addresses and found relatives who helped them identify the toddler and her parents, Cannan said.

Police identified Angelina’s mother as Crystal Nicole Baker, who gave birth five days ago to a daughter named Destiny, and Destiny’s father, Juan Diaz. Both are 20 and Long Beach residents.

Baker also has a 4-year-old son, who lives with relatives, Cannan said.

Detectives were trying to determine whether the couple intentionally abandoned Angelina, intended to return for her but met with trouble, or were victims of a crime.

Boats searched the rocky waterfront behind the aquarium in the hours after the toddler was discovered, and the hunt resumed at daybreak.

Cannan said the car showed no signs of foul play, and checks of several charter boats docked at Rainbow Harbor beside the aquarium showed that none had launched Wednesday night and the couple had not boarded one.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call (562) 435-6711.

“We obviously need to find them,” Cannan said.

nancy.wride@latimes.com