photo by: Mike Yoder

An infant who was abandoned in a trash receptacle and seriously injured has police investigating and neighbors in a Lawrence apartment complex worried.

Around 2:28 a.m. Thursday, police received a report that an infant was left in a trash receptacle at an apartment complex in the 2500 block of West Sixth Street. The baby, a 9-month-old girl, suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported to a Kansas City area hospital in serious but stable condition, Lawrence Police Sgt. Amy Rhoads said.

The apartments within the complex are owned and managed by Country Club on 6th, said Rob Presbrey, regional property manager for Apartment Management Consultants LLC.

Around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Jimi Burgner, who lives in a different building within the complex, said he was outside and saw an apparently intoxicated man drive up and park his Jeep outside his apartment.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Burgner said he recognized the man as someone who lived in a building nearby and who has a small daughter with the woman he lives with.

“He was obviously on a lot of something,” he said. “And he tried to get into two different apartments.”

“Our friend knows him and we helped him get to our friend’s place, but she had issues with him in the past and she told him to go,” Burgner added.

Eventually, Burgner called police to get the man to leave.

Later Thursday morning, Burgner said, he woke up and saw police tape around the man’s vehicle, which was still parked outside his apartment.

Another apartment was blocked off by police tape Thursday afternoon, with officers standing guard outside.

Lawrence police representatives would not say whether the incident described by Burgner and the taped-off apartment were connected.

photo by: Mike Yoder

It was not immediately clear where the baby girl was found, though multiple residents said the apartments all share a centralized dumpster, which also compacts trash.

Katie Moore and Adriana Rivera live two doors down from the taped-off apartment and said that they hear arguing from time to time.

“Mostly what sounds to be domestic arguments,” Moore said.

The two, who have lived in the complex for more than three years, aren’t familiar with their neighbors, they noted.

“We’ve been wanting to move out,” Moore said. “We don’t really try to get to know our neighbors.”

Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, Rivera said, she heard yelling between a man and a woman coming from the nearby apartment.

“Just yelling and saying bad words,” she said. “I think the man wanted to go.”

With the storm early Thursday, Moore said she didn’t hear anything. And when the two woke up this morning to find the apartment taped off, they didn’t think much of the incident.

Sara Dooley, another nearby resident, has heard only rumors regarding the infant, but she has been afraid for the safety of her children within the complex for quite some time, and the fact that she hasn’t heard more information about the incident makes things worse, she said.

“I can’t let my kids go outside to play,” she said. “There are all kinds of things going through your head, and with no answers we don’t know what’s going on.”

Dooley said she has lived in the complex since November, and Burgner said he has lived in the complex since October. Both said they’re looking for new places to live.

“I am in the process of moving out today,” Dooley said. “I am out.”

Presbrey, the property manager, said police told him only that an investigation was ongoing and did not offer any more information, so he was unable to comment further.

Police have contacted the baby’s family and are currently investigating the incident, Rhoads said.