Grandmother names infant found dead in PA garbage

Mother charged, faces arraignment on Friday

The maternal grandmother of the infant boy that was allegedly drowned in a toilet and thrown out in the garbage in Port Angeles has given the child a name: Thomas Loy Last.

The boy’s 16-year-old mother, Lauryn Last, is being charged as an adult with first degree murder, a charge that requires proof of premeditation, or second degree murder for allegedly killing the child after its birth Dec. 30.

Last is being held on $500,000 bail.

Port Angeles Police

learned of the alleged murder and illegal disposal of the body from a roommate in the Port Angeles home three days after the killing.

At that time authorities began a massive hunt through 60 tons of Port Angeles garbage in the Tacoma area, where Port Angeles garbage is loaded onto trains bound for a landfill in eastern Oregon.

Officials found the body of a newborn boy in the garbage on Jan. 3.

DNA testing will be conducted to see if the child is related to Last, said Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher.

The Pierce County Coroner confirmed the infant’s death was a homicide.

The Drennan-Ford Funeral Home was entrusted with the infant after he was transported to Port Angeles. The funeral home posted an online memorial at www.drennanford.com. Funeral services have been scheduled, but will remain private.

Last’s father, Ronald Eugene Last Jr., also was arrested after a search of the home allegedly revealed a firearm and suspected methamphetamine.

The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s office charged Last, 41, with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of methamphetamine, both felonies.

He also will face the charge of concealing a birth, a gross misdemeanor.

The pair lived in the home in Port Angeles with five other adult males and three to four younger children.

Last and the teenage female were the only two arrested and charged in connection to the case.

The girl moved in with her father in October after moving from Pueblo, Colo., where her mother lives.

Gallagher said Pueblo’s law enforcement indicated the baby’s father is an adult and not a minor.