Investigators looking for the mother of the dead baby found inside a plastic bag at a Westchester recycling plant last week say she may herself be a victim of a crime. Rob Schmitt reports.
Investigators looking for the mother of the dead baby found inside a plastic bag at a Westchester recycling plant last week say she may herself be a victim of a crime.
"The mother of this child has not shown up," Spring Valley Police Chief Paul Modica said in a news conference Thursday. "We don't know if she's also a victim somewhere that needs assistance or possibly the victim of another homicide."
The dead baby boy, dubbed by police as "Baby Angel," was found inside a plastic bag mixed among cardboard at the Brookfield Recycling Plant in Elmsford last week. The baby was born full-term then brutally killed, according to investigators.
Police later released photos of a black skirt and a towel with a floral design found with the baby in hopes someone would recognize the items and help identify the mother.
Tracing the plastic grocery bag in which the baby was found, detectives think the newborn was dumped in the trash at a deli on Maple Street in Spring Valley, then carried by a garbage truck to the recycling plant where it was found.
"Since Nov. 12, we've been consumed by this," Modica said. "We all have fathers, we all have mothers, we all have children, and this has been 24 hours a day."
Baby Angel was determined to be of some Latino descent, prompting community leaders, including Rampalo Ramirez of the Latino Pastors Association of Rockland County, to urge the public to come forward.
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"Everything will remain confidential," Ramirez said. "At this point, we just want to find the mom, we want to make sure she's in good state of health, we want to know what happened and we want to prevent this from happening in the future."
A funeral for the child is set for Saturday at St. Joseph's Church in Elmsford. Police are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the infant's death.
Anyone with information is asked to contact New York State Crime Stoppers at 1-866-313-TIPS or nyscrimestoppers.org.
