John Doe, Newborn, Body Located 1/11/06 Newark, NJ
One month later, dead baby found in trash unidentified By Ben Aguirre Jr., STAFF WRITER NEWARK — At one point, he had a mother and father. Now, he's known simply as the abandoned baby — without a name. It's been a month since the newborn was found in a trash can outside a Newark fast-food restaurant — his partially clothed, lifeless body discovered lying atop a mound of hamburger wrappers and soda cups. By the time a homeless man found him, the baby boy already had breathed his last breath — the sad end to a life that lasted fewer than five days. Some 30 days after the grim discovery, police say they are no closer to finding the newborn's parents. "We need to know what happened to this child," police Detective Sgt. Bob Douglas said, pleading for the parents to come forward. The newborn was found in the late afternoon Jan. 11, when a man digging through a garbage receptacle at the Jack in the Box at Mowry Avenue and Cedar Boulevard found the child and his belongings: a multicolored outfit, a blue blanket with cars printed on it and a blue pacifier, police said. "If he had not been doing that, the likelihood is that this child would have been rolled up in the garbage and disposed of, and no one would have ever known he was born, which is really the sad part," Douglas said, adding the incident could have been avoided. Because the newborn was so young, there is a possibility he could have been given up for adoption under California's Safely Surrendered Baby Law, signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2000. The law allows parents to give up their unwanted infant without fear of arrest or prosecution within 72 hours of birth. It was enacted in January 2001 and listed hospital emergency rooms as safe havens, but it later was amended to include fire stations such as the one two blocks away from the fast-food restaurant. "There were so many people willing to help the parents and the baby," Douglas said. Police don't know why the child was abandoned or how it died. An autopsy has been performed, and further testing is under way, but the cause of the baby's death has yet to be determined. With so few solid leads in finding the parents, police admit it is a frustrating case to investigate. It is unclear if the parents would face criminal charges at this time. With a case like this, "you use your imagination," Douglas said. "Think back. Who could have been there at this time?" Police have received several calls from people and chased down numerous tips, but none has been fruitful. "Sometimes it's someone who says they knew someone who was pregnant and they haven't seen the child," he said. "In all of them, we've found they had the child so they've been taken off the suspect list." Police also have reviewed the restaurant's surveillance video footage and tracked down the owners of cars seen in the area at the time, as well as searched a nationwide database of missing and unidentified people, but those measures also have ended with negative results. As odd as the case is, it's not the first time a baby was abandoned in Newark. A similar incident happened in 1988, but the child was found alive and eventually was adopted, Douglas said. Anyone with information may call police at (510) 793-1400 or the silent witness hot line at (510) 793-1400, ext. 500. http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3498701