A contractor for a funeral home in Lodi tossed the body of a stillborn baby into the trash, and now police have launched an investigation.

Employees at Cherokee Memorial Funeral Home contacted police Saturday after discovering the body was missing from storage, Lodi police said in a statement.

Investigators learned the body had been tossed out by an employee from a contracted transport service, authorities said. The employee threw out a box that held the remains about two weeks earlier, police said.

The body could not be retrieved because all of the waste containers from the funeral home had been taken by a collection company, a statement from police read.

Tori Monforte, general manager of the funeral home, said officials could not provide details on the case, including whether the employee had been identified, because of the ongoing investigation.

“We are working closely with the family, law enforcement and others involved to investigate the incident and resolve the issue quickly,” she said in an email.

Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and officials declined to release any names of those involved.

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Salvador Hernandez is a reporter on the Fast Break Desk, the Los Angeles Times’ breaking news team. Before joining the newsroom in 2022, he was a senior reporter for BuzzFeed News, where he covered criminal justice issues, the growing militia movement and breaking news. He also covered crime as a reporter at the Orange County Register. He is a Los Angeles native.