When I read a story like this . . . I'm ashamed to be a human being. How can any one throw a living newborn baby into the garbage as if she were trash?
Baby girl found dead at recycling plant was born full term, police sayBy Jerome Burdi and Leon Fooksman
The baby found dead in rubble at a recycling plant near West Palm Beach had been born full term and was a 6-pound girl, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday.
Detectives named the girl "Grace" as they ordered a DNA profile and began to look for leads into how she ended up dead.
"By the grace of God, we found her," said Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Phyllis Kearney, explaining where the name came from.
Kearney said the cause of Grace's death still hadn't been determined. There were bruises on the body, but investigators they may have come when the body was being transported, rather than from a beating.
The Sheriff's Office said Grace died last Saturday or Sunday and that her body was transported to Sun Recycling west of West Palm Beach by one of 50 trucks that stopped at 369 construction sites from Delray Beach to Tequesta to pick up material.
Workers found the naked baby with her umbilical cord still attached on Tuesday morning in a mound of discarded concrete set for crushing at Sun Recycling, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
Investigators suspect the baby was brought Monday to the plant, on Wallis Road off Southern Boulevard near Florida's Turnpike. The newborn was covered in so much dirt from the rocks and concrete that investigators couldn't immediately determine her race.
Palm Beach County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Bell wrapped the baby in a blanket, put her on a gurney and took her to the morgue.
"I can't believe how anyone would throw a baby out like a piece of garbage," said Detective Bob Falbe, a sheriff's child-crimes expert.
She is at least the 21st baby discovered dead and abandoned in recycling plants, trash containers, canals and other places in Florida since 2000, including three in Palm Beach County, according to Miami-based A Safe Haven for Newborns. A 2000 state law permits parents to drop off unwanted newborns within three days of birth at hospitals, fire stations and emergency medical services facilities without prosecution and law enforcement asking questions.
"It doesn't have to be like this," said Nick Silverio, founder of the newborns advocacy and educational group. He said at least 56 babies have been recovered at the emergency facilities since the law passed. At least two babies were dropped off so far this year in Palm Beach County, at a hospital and a fire station.
"A child's life is saved and a mother and father are saved from a lifetime of guilt," he said.
Many of the abandoned-baby cases go unsolved because of the challenges in finding evidence and tracking relatives, officials said.
West Palm Beach detectives still are trying to find the mother of a newborn found dead on a recycling conveyor at the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority in January 2005.
Police wrote a heart-wrenching letter meant to persuade that boy's mother to come forward. The letter was released to the media and read at the baby's funeral months later. The attention generated only a dozen or so unsuccessful leads, mostly from parents who suspected their runaway children were pregnant.
Police have entered the baby boy's DNA into a national FBI database hoping it will match his mother's DNA if she ever is entered into the system. "We're still actively looking for her," Detective Dennis Hardiman said.
Baby Grace arrived in the plant between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday, presumably in one of the 369 trucks delivering debris from construction, remodeling and demolition sites from Pompano Beach to Martin County, investigators said. With trucks rumbling and dust flying, a 19-year-old worker examining a mound of materials on the edge of the western side of the fenced-in plant spotted the baby near the top of the pile heading for a machine that crushes the debris into small rock.
Sun Recycling officials could not be reached for comment, despite attempts by phone to their corporate and satellite offices.
The autopsy will attempt to answer if she ever took a breath. If so, whoever dumped her could face felony charges, possibly homicide. If she was stillborn, the perpetrator could be charged with illegal disposal of a dead body, a misdemeanor.
Either way, Falbe said, he will exhaust all leads.
"I want to find out who could have done this," he said.
