A husband and wife are behind bars tonight, arrested in connection to a gruesome discovery in their backyard. Investigators say the pair buried the body of an infant in a planter at their Southwest Bakersfield home.
Police say this all happened back in November, after a juvenile whom police are only calling a relative of the married couple gave birth inside their home.
Neighbors of the family say they are still in shock. So far the consensus is the same, while the family was quiet and mostly kept to themselves, no one could’ve ever imagined the very dark secret police say they quite literally had buried for several months.
Investigators say it all began to unravel yesterday morning, after officers got a call from someone they’re calling a 3rd party, who had troubling information from a teenage girl.
“The circumstances of this case are fairly unique,” said Sgt. Nathan McCaulley.
The teenager who police say lived on Shining Crag Avenue, had information that led them to dig in her family’s backyard. The dig uncovered the body of an infant baby boy.
“Most of the backyard is concrete, there’s a small area where there’s a flower bed and the baby was buried and concealed in a flower bed,” said McCaulley.
Police now believe a teenage girl gave birth in the home in November. They say the teen’s relative, 43-year-old Beant Kaur Dhillon, took the baby from her, and killed him within hours of the birth.
Police won’t release the relationship between Dhillon and the teen in order to protect her privacy, but say the teenage girl is a victim in this case.”She was not complicit in any way of harming the child or arranging for the child to be harmed, she was not a party to the crime, not part of killing the baby or burying the baby or the cover up in any shape or form,” said McCaulley.
Police believe after Dhillon killed the child, her husband, 47-year-old Jagsir Singh, helped cover up the homicide. Police will not say if the teenage girl’s family knew she was pregnant. They’re remaining tight-lipped on the juvenile mother’s information, they do say there is no indication that her pregnancy stems from any sexual abuse.
While most neighbors were too shook up to speak on camera, they did reveal the family moved in about one to two months before the teen allegedly gave birth in the home. No one we spoke with knew the teen was pregnant. Neighbors also say the alleged killer of the baby, Beant Dhillon, worked as a nurse. A search of California medical licensing shows someone with her full name is a registered nurse.
Jagsir Singh bailed out of jail this afternoon. Beant Kaur Dhillon is being held on no bail and is due in court tomorrow. Police say this is a complex and highly sensitive case, and expect much more information will come out, if and when the district attorneys office files charges.