Florida police are searching for the parents of three newborn babies who were abandoned at the same apartment complex at different times.
“We are trying to identify the parents, and once we find them, to find out what the problems were,” Orlando Police Department Public Information Officer Heidi Rodriguez tells PEOPLE. “We are obviously very concerned about the safety of possible victims in the case. It is a top priority.”
The three newborn babies were abandoned at the Willow Key Apartments in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
The case came to light earlier this month when the police department asked the city council for $2,500 to pay for genetic testing, NBC News reports.
“We already knew they were siblings,” Rodriguez says. “This is an extra step to identify the parents.”
Rodriguez says the funding was approved by the city council.
According to a funding memo obtained by PEOPLE, Orlando police detective Ghena Luker wrote that the most recently abandoned newborn was discovered in front of an apartment door in July.
“A note discovered at the scene explained the baby was left at the location because the mother was in fear of the child’s father and the risk he posed to the child,” Luker wrote.
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During her investigation, Luker wrote that she’d realized the two other newborns abandoned “under similar circumstances” were most likely related.
“I submitted DNA from all three children and learned they shared the same mother and father,” she wrote.
Luker wrote that several additional familial matches were found through DNA testing.
“We are trying to find out why this happened three different times,” Rodriguez says. “The detectives are going above and beyond in the search to try to identify the persons. Our main priority is the safety of the mother and any other children.”
Rodriguez says the three siblings are now safe.
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