CULVER CITY, Calif. — Police are exploring possible connections between an infant girl found dead and a young girl found injured on the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway in the Culver City area, a Woodland Hills homicide and a fatal car crash in Redondo Beach.

At about 4:30 a.m. Monday, the California Highway Patrol responded to the northbound 405 Freeway near the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit, where they found a baby girl believed to be 5 or 6 months old on the roadway and a girl between 7 and 9 years old on the right shoulder.

The infant was pronounced dead at the scene, while the young girl was taken to a hospital with “moderate” injuries, according to the CHP, which said a witness reported seeing a black sedan in the area where the girls were found. It was unclear how the girls were injured or if they had been struck by a car.

Two northbound freeway lanes were blocked throughout the morning rush hour while CHP officials investigated the situation.

On Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed it was investigating a possible link between the discovery of the girls, an overnight slaying in Woodland Hills and a subsequent fatal crash in Redondo Beach.

The LAPD responded to a Woodland Hills apartment building in the 6200 block of Variel Avenue around 7:35 a.m. Monday in response to a report of an unresponsive man in his 30s. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene.

On Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner identified him as 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney of Woodland Hills.

“While conducting their investigation, homicide detectives learned of two additional incidents that occurred earlier in the morning, one on the 405 Freeway involving two young children and a second in Redondo Beach involving a traffic collision,” according to the LAPD. “At this time, Valley Bureau Homicide detectives are working with the California Highway Patrol on the incident involving the two children and believe it is connected to the Topanga (Woodland Hills) homicide scene.

“They are also collaborating with the Redondo Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles County (Medical Examiner) to determine if that scene is related to the homicide on Variel.”

The Redondo Beach accident involved a black sedan that crashed into a tree, killing the female driver around 5 a.m. Monday on Pacific Coast Highway and Vincent Street.

A local news station reported that the female suspect in the Redondo Beach crash might have fatally stabbed the man — who police said might have been the father of one of the children — at the Woodland Hills apartment building, then drove away with her two children and eventually dumped them on the 405 Freeway.

The woman subsequently crashed her sedan in Redondo Beach and died, the station reported, adding that police are not ruling out the possibility that her death was a suicide.

Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the CHP Southern Division Major Crimes office at 323-644-9550, or the CHP Traffic Management Center at 323-259-3200.