Baby Justice Timeline: How The Search For A Missing Mom And Infant Turned Into A Murder Investigation

YOLO COUNTY (CBS13) — The death of an infant, and the subsequent arrest of his mother has a community in mourning and investigators digging to find what happened to Baby Justice.

Samantha Green, 23, is due in court on Wednesday to face a murder charge in the death of her son, 20-day-old Justice Rees, after they went missing last month.

Here is a timeline of the events leading up to Wednesday's hearing.

Feb. 21

Green and her son were supposed to visit a family member, but did not arrive. Friends and family posted fliers that following Monday (Feb. 23) to find mom and son.

Feb. 24

Green emerges by herself from a Knights Landing slough, telling a man who lived nearby that she had spent the night there, and that she had been attacked.

"'Just call 911, I was kidnapped,' and that's all she told me," Ricardo Villasenor said. "She said she spent the night out in the slough."

While she said she couldn't remember who attacked her, she already knew the fate of Baby Justice.

"She couldn't tell me anybody that did, or she don't remember, all she told me is 'My baby's out there, it's dead. It froze to death,'" he said.

Feb. 25

After a search that spanned the night and the following morning, search crews found the body of the infant near where his mother was found. While it would be a day before investigators confirmed it was Baby Justice, the likelihood of another baby of a similar age being found that day was highly unlikely.

Her account of being attacked was something the baby's grandmother, Patty Rees, believed was true.

"I'm sure neither one of them had any part of it. You can tell she fought off an attacker. So somewhere in the mix the baby got left," she said.

Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto said detectives worked diligently and throughly to see if there was any validity to those claims.

A vigil was held that night by the community. No one from the baby's family was at the vigil, but a relative says Green and her fiance were questioned by police most of the day. Prieto said during that questioning session, Green didn't appear to be clear on what had happened, likely because of her physical condition and dehydration.

Feb. 26

The sheriff's department officially declared the infant found the previous day was in fact Baby Justice.

An autopsy did not reveal a cause of death, but did leave open the possibility that it could have been drowning or hypothermia due to exposure. Multiple news outlets jumped on that news and assumed those were the cause of death, but as of March 2, no official cause of death has been declared.

The autopsy didn't reveal any obvious signs of trauma to the infant, much to the relief of Patty Rees.

"I was glad to hear that pathologist found he had no marks on him. He had no bruises. That he just looked like a really healthy baby boy. And he was," she said.

Detectives also revealed Green likely drove her own car to the slough area with her son, with nobody else in the car. The number of people possibly involved was dwindling.

Full results were expected to take several weeks to complete.

Feb. 27

Sheriff's deputies brought Green in for one last round of questioning late on Friday night. While Sheriff Prieto wasn't present for the questioning, he was told Green was more cooperative.

"Before she seemed—I don't want to use the term hesitant or evasive. She just wasn't sure. But I think that probably had more to do with her physical condition," Prieto said the following day, saying she was dehydrated.

Shortly after that questioning session, Green was arrested for the murder of Baby Justice.

Feb. 28

Sheriff Prieto held a news conference formally announcing the arrest of Green, saying the investigation had whittled down all of the possibilities.

"There is no other additional evidence indicating someone else is involved, at this point," Prieto said.

Prieto would not comment on the state of Green when she was discovered or during questioning. When asked about her mental state, or if she was depressed, the sheriff said that is an issue for experts beyond the sheriff's department to tackle.

The toll the investigation into the infant's death had taken on the community, as well as investigators was clear on Prieto's face throughout the press conference.

"This is probably one of the Top 5 worst situations I've personally been involved with or seen," he said. "It touched our souls. We wanted to make sure we were really slow and methodical in coming to this determination."

He said Green would face a murder charge, but it would but up to the Yolo County District Attorney's Office to determine which degree. His thoughts were also with the family.

"I can only imagine what her family is going through," Prieto said.

Justice's grandfather Randy Green reached out getting word that of the arrest.

"We are just totally devastated. There's a part of us that's been torn away from us and will never be back. Will never be the same, ever," he said.

March 1

Green's parents, Randy and Laurie Green, released a statement in support of their daughter, saying that she would not do anything to harm Baby Justice:

"Our family is grieving not only for the loss of our grandson Justice, but also the possible loss of our daughter Sami Green."

But her sister would release a conflicting statement:

"We want to clarify a couple things. My family does have different opinions on the situation we are experiencing. We do not support the decisions my sister has made. We fully support law enforcements efforts as well as the district attorneys efforts to ensure the truth is discovered and that justice is served for Baby Justice. We would like to thank the community, volunteers, and law enforcement who assisted us in finding my sister and nephew as well as those continuing to work on the case."

Also on Sunday, Justice's father, Frank Rees was arrested on three separate warrants unrelated to the case of the infant's death.

March 2

Frank Rees spoke to CBS13 on Green's arrest from behind bars in a jailhouse interview where cameras weren't allowed and said, "I know she's not capable of hurting the baby intentionally," and "She was an amazing mom and loved that baby with her whole heart."

Regarding the time of his arrest, he argued that it "isn't f------ fair" because he has a funeral to plan for his infant son.

Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto didn't mince words when we asked if he considered holding off on picking up Frank Rees for his warrants in the wake of his child's death.

"You know, I have so much information on this young man it's hard for me to be extraordinarily sympathetic," he said, adding that he had plenty of time to clear up his warrants and stay out of jail.

Green will face a judge on a murder charge on Wednesday at Yolo County Superior Court.

Frank Rees had hoped to bail out and be in the courtroom to offer Green support, but he will be in court at the same time facing his unrelated charges.