Alexander Echeverria. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Alexander Echeverria. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

UPDATE | Officials are seeking Alexander Echeverria of South Sacramento after his daughter’s body was found late Monday morning outside the Funeraria del Angel Bellflower Mortuary in Bellflower.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department believes 8-month-old Alexia Rose Echeverria died in Sacramento. TV footage showed a memorial of flowers, balloons, candles and stuffed animals outside the mortuary for the baby, whose body was discovered in a car seat outside a trash container and partially covered by a blanket.

The girl’s mother, Karla Alvarado, told KOVR-TV that Echeverria, 22, had said he was going to pick up his brother in San Francisco. He later called Alvarado crying but didn’t say anything else.

Alvarado, who lives with Echeverria, said she demanded he come home with their daughter or she would call police.

“She had just had just learned how to say, ‘Mama.’ She was already calling me mama. She was clapping for everything,” Alvarado said.

Authorities didn’t immediately release details about the girl’s death or why an Amber Alert was not issued. Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said law enforcement had put a “security hold” on the case that prohibited her from releasing further information.

Echeverria was last seen in Southern California early Monday morning, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Tuesday. Officials believe he suffers from depression and had made suicidal statements to his family, who reported him missing on Memorial Day.

Echeverria has been driving a gray 2014 Volkswagen Jetta with the California license plate 7FFT866.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the case, and a spokesperson for the mortuary did not immediately return requests for additional comment.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts was urged to call the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-5115.

Previously: Investigators trying to determine whether dead infant is baby missing with father

An investigation is underway today to determine whether an infant girl found dead in a car seat behind a Bellflower mortuary is the daughter of a depressed Northern California man last seen with his 8-month-old daughter driving in Bellflower, authorities said.

The coroner’s office was working to notify the infant’s family so her name could not be released, and the cause of her death was undetermined pending an autopsy, coroner’s Investigator Jerry McKibben told City News Service.

Alexander Echeverria. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Alexander Echeverria. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The infant was found in a car seat partially covered by a blanket about 10:35 a.m. Monday behind a mortuary in the 10300 block of Alondra Boulevard, Deputy Kimberly Alexander of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A search, meanwhile, continued for 22-year-old Northern California resident Alexander Echeverria, last seen with his 8-month-old daughter about 10:30 p.m. Friday driving in Bellflower in a gray 2014 VW Jetta, with California license number 7FFT866.

Echeverria's car. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Echeverria’s car. Photo courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The sheriff’s department said Echeverria suffers from depression and that his family was concerned about his safety and that of the child.

Echeverria is Hispanic, 5 feet 6, about 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts was asked to call the sheriff’s department at 323-890-5500 or 911. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.

Editor’s note: The age of Alexander Echeverria has been corrected.