5 detained for questioning after dead boy found near dumpsters in Panorama City

Three men and two women were detained for questioning by Los Angeles police while investigating the death of a boy whose body was found near dumpsters in Panorama City over the weekend, authorities said.

The relationships, if any, between the adults and the boy were not disclosed.

Police had responded to the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard about 7 a.m. Saturday, July 12, and found the boy, believed to be 5- or 6-years-old.

His identify has not been determined yet, police said.

About 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, a tip led detectives to a large Panorama City apartment complex in the 14500 block of Lanark Street, where a search warrant was served and a man and woman were detained, police said.

Two children were also in the unit and placed with the Department of Children and Family Services, police said.

The apartment complex is less than two blocks from where the boy’s body was found.

While detectives were still collecting evidence at a second unit in the complex, officers detained two men and a woman near Sunset Boulevard and Ivar Street, police said.

What, if anything, tied the five adults to the boy’s death was not known.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, at Tuesday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, said the boy’s body was discovered by a person “looking for recyclables in a trash dumpster behind a commercial building” and that the body “showed signs of trauma.”

There was not a missing-person report matching a description of the boy, McDonnell said. Investigators searched the area for surveillance footage and found “several potential sources for evidence.”