It appeared that more than 100 people turned out last night for a candlelight vigil in memory of the 19-day-old girl allegedly murdered, tortured and sexually assaulted by her Newhall father.

The event took place at Old Orchard Park in Newhall.

The body of newborn Ellorah Rose Warner was found Saturday morning after dad Matthew Brendan Warner alerted authorities to her location in the cab of a pickup parked in a park-and-ride lot in the 23600 block of Newhall Avenue, sheriff's officials said.

Warner and mother Tawni Wallis walked into the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station about 9 p.m. Friday to report the girl missing from a residence in the 20600 block of Newhall Avenue, authorities said. Wallis had reportedly left the baby at home with her dad that day.


Deputies had “conducted an extensive search of the area surrounding the residence throughout the night with no success in locating the missing infant,” according to a sheriff's statement.

Then the 30-year-old dad pointed law enforcement officers to that truck, authorities said.

Yesterday Warner was charged by the L.A. County District Attorney's Office with “one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years or younger and aggravated sexual assault of a child,” according to a D.A.'s statement.

The charging documents allege that the dad acted “unlawfully and with the intent to cause cruel and extreme pain and suffering for the purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion and for a sadistic purpose.”


Prosecutors claim the murder and assault happened Friday.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Feb. 18. In the meantime the father was being held in lieu of $2.25 million bail.

He could face life in prison if successfully convicted, D.A.'s officials said.

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