Thirty-seven years after discovering a dead baby, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office seeks the public’s help in identifying the newborn, who was found abandoned in South Orange one day after Thanksgiving.
On the morning of Nov. 28, 1986, sanitation workers found the baby atop a trash can behind an apartment building at 5 Cottage St. in South Orange.
The body was wrapped in a towel and a yellow table runner and placed in a wicker picnic basket, which was left on the trash can. The white male baby weighed five pounds and still had his umbilical cord.
Detectives intend to use DNA evidence and genetic databases to identify the parents or relatives of the baby, but they ask the public’s assistance in solving the case. Investigators suspect the basket may have been bought from a local store.
On the 37th anniversary of the incident, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office asks anyone with information about the case to please call its tip line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or email HomicideTips@njecpo.org. The information can be kept confidential.
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