Clearing trash leads to discovery of baby's body in a box

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputies are investigating the death of an infant, whose remains were found in a vacant field off of Highway 14, between I-40 and Sandia Crest Rd. Sunday afternoon.

Deputy Lawrence Koren said someone put the infant in a box and left it on the lot.

Koren said the box was just big enough for the baby.

Detectives don’t know the exact age of the infant but say the child was very young.

“We're told anywhere from newborn to 2 months old and that's an estimate,” Koren said.

Deputies said the body could have been in the woods since January. The lot was recently sold. The new owner made the gruesome discovery. Investigators said the owner was clearing trash left on the property when he saw the box. When he looked inside he found the infant’s remains.
[...]
Koren said whoever left the child went to great lengths to get rid of it. Neighbors who’ve walked through that lot agreed.

“I've hiked back there but I don't know if there is any access by vehicle,” Daniel Gardiner said.

Koren said there is only one dirt path for vehicles on that lot. The baby was left about 30 yards north of the highway and a good hike away from the dirt path.

The Office of the Medical Investigator is now looking for clues about the baby’s identity. Until they get closer to identifying the infant detectives will not release the gender of the baby.

Detectives said the biggest questions in the case are who are the parents and where are they.

Detectives said they may have to rely on someone, who knew the baby was alive and then noticed the infant was missing.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/b...y-found-in-box

[TwiztidAngel]

i hope they find who did it!

[Pene784]

Until they get closer to identifying the infant detectives will not release the gender of the baby.

Wouldn't releasing the gender of the infant help with identifying him/her?

[tmdgirl]

I would think identifying the gender would help, but maybe they have some clues already and don't want to tip the losers off that dumped that poor baby.

[nopatience]

When are people going to stop throwing children away like garbage? This is horrifying to me. Whoever did this deserves to have their reproductive parts "treated" w/ a slow acid drip. Jackoffs.

[Twisted]

Just a question here, since it's not made clear by the article. In fact, it's made clear that this is a possibility. How do we know the baby wasn't already dead at the time of birth? If a mother had a stillborn, out of a hospital (possibly, for example, a teen mother who feared the response of her community), it would be possible they'd put the dead body in a box and try to hide it somewhere.

I think I saw something like that in Law and Order once.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Just a question here, since it's not made clear by the article. In fact, it's made clear that this is a possibility. How do we know the baby wasn't already dead at the time of birth? If a mother had a stillborn, out of a hospital (possibly, for example, a teen mother who feared the response of her community), it would be possible they'd put the dead body in a box and try to hide it somewhere.

Even so, "abuse of a corpse" is a crime. You can't just go sticking dead people wherever you feel like it. They got rules on that stuff. You're in the clear if no one finds where you stuck the body, but that goes if it was murder or you just found the dead person.

[Twisted]

Even so, "abuse of a corpse" is a crime. You can't just go sticking dead people wherever you feel like it. They got rules on that stuff. You're in the clear if no one finds where you stuck the body, but that goes if it was murder or you just found the dead person.

That may be true, but it is a different crime, and I admittedly react to each differently. Killing a baby is nigh unforgivable, but panicking after you've birthed a dead baby and doing the "wrong" thing with it is different.

Granted, I don't believe that corpses should have any particular rights that would allow "abuse" to be a term that can applied to them, even in the cases that I feel strongly are disgusting. I won't spell out which ones they are.

If this baby was alive in the person's care, and neglect did not lead to the death of that child, then I would wish them to a special circle of Hell. If the baby was stillborn or died shortly after due to unavoidable complications (unavoidable as in hospital couldn't help), then I wish the family the best for what has been, and will continue to be, a very trying time in their lives.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

If this baby was alive in the person's care, and neglect did not lead to the death of that child, then I would wish them to a special circle of Hell. If the baby was stillborn or died shortly after due to unavoidable complications (unavoidable as in hospital couldn't help), then I wish the family the best for what has been, and will continue to be, a very trying time in their lives.

I don't think you'll find any disagreement on that. Whether it's abuse or "improper burial" or whatever they call it, you still can't just go around tossing bodies in the garbage. Often times in the case of a still birth panic it is not charged or charged and probation given if found guilty. I think the circumstances play a lot into it.

[Twisted]

I don't think you'll find any disagreement on that. Whether it's abuse or "improper burial" or whatever they call it, you still can't just go around tossing bodies in the garbage. Often times in the case of a still birth panic it is not charged or charged and probation given if found guilty. I think the circumstances play a lot into it.

I do agree that circumstances play a lot into it. I just wanted to play the Angel's Advocate (since the Devil has enough of them here), to suggest that this particular story may not be as dark as we instinctively jump toward it being.

[Silvahalo]

Detectives said the biggest questions in the case are who are the parents and where are they.

And WHY? WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?

Regardless of the reason for babies demise, it's a terrible way leaving a baby to rot in a box in the middle of nowhere. No respect. I'm inclined to think as this person went to great lengths to dump babies body, that foul play took part, but then I'm suspicious like.

Poor baby, rest in peace little one.

[Aslan]

I'm with you Silva. This person went completely out of their way to hide the baby.
Weird though, that they didn't bury him/her in the desert. It seems like every day here they are finding a body or 2 somewhere in the state.

Rip angel

[Angelinfl]

ok what if.... the baby had legitimately died and the parents were poor and couldn't afford the funeral home or casket or burial or grave plot or cremation. Is there some public assistance for that??? I'm just tossing this out there in this economy?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

If they can't afford to bury the baby, but wanted to, I doubt they would have put him in a box and left him there for scavengers and strangers to find.

Not certain, but I think if a body is unclaimed (due to poverty or unidentified), counties usually bury them. No headstone, rarely a marker, maybe a shared grave, no service.

[Harley_Tech]

If they can't afford to bury the baby, but wanted to, I doubt they would have put him in a box and left him there for scavengers and strangers to find.

Not certain, but I think if a body is unclaimed (due to poverty or unidentified), counties usually bury them. No headstone, rarely a marker, maybe a shared grave, no service.

I do believe there was an article here on DD about counties facing high rates of unclaimed bodies over the last year or so. The economy is hitting even the dead hard.

R

[Robynne]

I wanted to bump this to see if anyone else can find more info. My searches are coming up with nothing new

[Dakota Valkyrie]

From back in originally reported (March 2010):

Police released photos related to a disturbing case out of Cedar Crest. In late March, a landowner found a dead baby in a box in the East Mountains. Police are hoping the photos of the boxes found with the baby will help the woman come forward.

Deputies said the baby is, at most, 2 months old, and they believed it had been in the vacant lot since January or even earlier. The child was found just off of State Road 14 north of Cedar Crest by its mother or another relative.

"We believe that the child was very carefully placed," said Captain Gregg Marcantel with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office. "We look at the crime scene and the condition of the crime scene and we see what we believe to be a pretty emotional attachment and bond between whoever placed the child there, and the child itself."

Officials still believe the person who placed the box may have returned several times to visit the dead child, which led investigators to question neighbors. They are not calling the death a homicide; only a serious death. They believe the mother or relative that dumped the body did not intend to mistreat the dead child.

"A lot of times, especially in this economic time, pregnancies are very difficult things to navigate through," Marcantel said. "This is the opportunity to come forward because you are dealing with a law enforcement and a criminal justice system that can understand those circumstances."

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/C...ned-babys-body

It was a girl. From this past March:

A year after a baby was found buried in a cardboard box, detectives have closed the case, but they have not solved it.

Baby Angel as she’s called has not been forgotten though. On Wednesday she was given a proper burial thanks to members of the Metropolitan Community Church of Albuquerque and their ‘Littlest Angels’ program.

“We give them just a very simple burial service letting them know, no matter how short their lives were here, they were important, they mattered and that they were loved,” said Reverend Judith Maynard.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s detectives gave the newborn the name Angel after her tiny decomposed body was found buried in diaper boxes on a piece of property near Cedar Crest, that was last March.

“We didn’t get any information that led us to a suspect or to a family,” said Detective Santiago Roybal.

As a result, Detective Roybal had to close the case last month pending any further leads, leaving a lot of unanswered questions.

Even after an autopsy Roybal said doctors were not able to determine how the baby died or if she even took a breath, but investigators don’t think she was murdered.

“She didn’t have any signs of trauma that we could tell at the time, her skeletal structure was complete, her head was fine there weren’t any broken bones,” Roybal said.

Detectives said whoever buried her did so with care, wrapping the newborn in blankets and putting her in a box inside of a box.

Now nearly a year later, baby Angel is being buried again with great care, this time with a proper funeral service.

“I also grieve for the family that laid little baby angel to rest and I hope that where ever they are, know that god loves them and baby angel is resting in peace,” Maynard said.

It’s a thought investigators hope will encourage baby Angel’s family to come forward and claim her, so they can put their case to rest as well.

“It’s never too late and all of us in this unit and the sheriff’s department would love to solve this case,” Roybal said.

The only possible charge in this case would be improper disposal of a body, which is a fourth degree felony.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/b...-proper-burial

[Tundratot]

The baby was carefully placed out in the woods, far from the beaten trail, on private albiet unowned or vacant land, where there was reasonable expectation of privacy. Placed in a makeshift coffin of boxes like a pet. Why did the person who put it there not bury it? Place a cross or cairn?

[princessgrandma]

The baby was carefully placed out in the woods, far from the beaten trail, on private albiet unowned or vacant land, where there was reasonable expectation of privacy. Placed in a makeshift coffin of boxes like a pet. Why did the person who put it there not bury it? Place a cross or cairn?

If there was a real emotional attachment by the person who placed her there, maybe they couldn't bear to bury her under the dirt. I know that sounds kinda sick but really, it's kinda sick to leave a baby in a box off the beaten path.

[badfish76]

Maybe they wanted to come back and visit her or maybe the idea of putting her in the cold, dark ground was more than they could take.

Sad, sad story tho. I am glad that someone gave her a decent funeral and a marker.

[LDhummingbird]

Baby was left in size 4 diaper boxes?
That baby has a sibling.

[ineedanap]

I agree, LD. My 13 month old is in size 3. Too many babies, too fast maybe. Or illegals. RIP sweet angel baby girl.