The grim discovery of a newborn baby girl's body, hidden inside a shoe box and dumped outside an apartment block in Sydney's west, has sparked an intense search for the mother.
The body of the tiny infant, her umbilical cord still attached, was found on Thursday morning in a 40cm by 40cm cardboard box, partly covered by mulch.
It's likely the baby was dumped the previous night, say detectives who spent all day questioning local residents about pregnant women living in the area and rummaging through dozens of bins.
The baby girl was found by a gardener in a small plot next to a path commonly used as a short cut by commuters from nearby Strathfield station making their way to Homebush.
Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Hans Rupp said it was unclear whether the child she suffered any injuries before her death.
"(The gardener) had a look inside that box and there was a baby child, a baby girl," he told reporters outside the Strathbelle apartments, in Beresford Road, Strathfield.
"That baby girl was secreted in the box, partly covered.
"We know it was there probably less than 24 hours. The gardener goes through the premises every day.
"We suspect that child was placed there in the hours of darkness last night."
Det Insp Rupp appealed for the mother to come forward.
"It's a newborn child. The umbilical chord is still attached and ... she (the mother) may need some medical treatment," he said.
He also appealed for witnesses who may have seen the box being discarded.
"It's not necessarily a murder investigation, we're looking at suspicious (death) simply because of the way the baby was discarded," he said.
"There's nothing to suggest there's any foul play here.
"It may well have been the mother discarding the baby for whatever reason, we just don't know."
He admitted the pathway where the box was left was not well lit.
The baby has been taken to a morgue and a post-mortem examination will be conducted on Friday morning.
The discovery prompted residents of the Strathbelle apartments air their concerns about growing crime in the area, including muggings and a murder.
Partha Mukherjee, secretary of the building's executive committee, said that in the last year there had been at least three muggings on a path near where the baby was found... as well as a murder in his building.
"It's become a hotspot of crime. There's free feeding for all the criminals," Mr Mukherjee told AAP.
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