LOS ANGELES — The death of a newborn named Boaz Yoder in an Altadena apartment seemed at first glance like a case of sudden infant death syndrome.
His mother told investigators she had put the baby boy to sleep under blankets on a chilly autumn night in 2017 and found him the next morning lifeless in his crib.
The closer investigators from the sheriff's Homicide Bureau looked, however, the more doubts they had.
The search for the truth plunged Detectives Mike Davis and Gene Morse into a murky world of desperate young addicts and small-time drug dealers with a disgraced multimillionaire at the center: Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the former dean of the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine.
For 2 1/2 years, the detectives and a child abuse prosecutor circled Puliafito and the baby's mother, a hairdresser and former nude model. They turned up evidence in County Jail, a toxicology lab and the confidential files of USC's white shoe attorneys.
What they found was shocking, infuriating and devastatingly sad, but in the end, only one thing mattered: Was it enough for criminal charges?
Homicide investigations are rarely easy or quick, but Boaz's case is notable for the time and resources that law enforcement committed to seeking justice. It's a case that demonstrates the challenges of child death investigations and the particular complications of a wealthy and connected suspect — in this case, a world-renowned physician with a legal team and private investigator at his disposal.
Puliafito and his attorney said he had done nothing wrong.
