Los Angeles Police are tracing a trail of death and violence that left three dead – including a six-month-old baby.

Police are investigating possible connections between the deaths of a baby girl found on the side of a busy motorway, a man slain in a suburban apartment, and a woman who died in a solo car crash.

Officers found the infant, thought to be around six months old, along with a nine-year-old girl on Interstate 405 in Culver City, around 4.30am local time, on Monday 8 April.

The younger girl had suffered unspecified trauma and died at the scene, which is around 10 miles (16km) west of downtown LA, said California Highway Patrol officer Frank Salas.

The older girl suffered moderate injuries and had to be taken to hospital.

One girl was found on the shoulder of the motorway, and the other on the road, Sky’s US partner NBC News reports.

Mr Salas added that a 911 caller also told authorities a black car was spotted in the area where the girls were found – but it is not clear if the children came from the vehicle.

Then, shortly after 7.30am, police attended a suburban apartment in the Woodland Hills neighbourhood around 25 miles (42km) northwest of downtown LA after reports a man in his 30s was found unresponsive.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene and are investigating it as a possible murder.

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Later, authorities said they were also investigating the solo crash of a black car around 5am in Redondo Beach, around 20 miles (32km) southwest of downtown LA, that killed the woman behind the wheel.

On Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed its detectives were “working with the California Highway Patrol on the incident involving the two children and believe it is connected to the … homicide scene” at the apartment.

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Reports claim the car had crashed into a tree.

They were also working to confirm whether the solo crash was related.

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