The New York Police Department has identified the father of "Baby
Hope" and want to speak with him as part of their 22-year investigation
into the girl's death.
Police stopped short of calling the man a suspect.
"He is someone we
definitely have to talk to," NYPD Assistant Chief Joe Reznick told Olokunbolablog
on Thursday, "But can we arrest him for this right now? The answer is
no, definitely not."
Investigators are looking for the father and believe he is in New York City.
"We're very interested in him," a law enforcement official told Olokunbolablog.
"Baby Hope," a little
girl whose body was found in a blue and white picnic cooler in a wooded
area near the Henry Hudson Parkway on July 23, 1991, was never
identified until this week.
Police now believe "Baby Hope" was South American, according to Reznick.
Reznick is "confident" an arrest will be made in this case, but could not state when that might happen.
"Trust me when I say the
investigation is probably more active now than it's ever been during the
course of 22 years," Reznick said.
police have identified the little girl and her mother but will not make
either name public because of the ongoing investigation.
The girl, then believed
to be 3 to 5 years old, was smothered and sexually molested. Her body
was so badly decomposed that several sketches were made to suggest what
she looked like.
Thanks to a tip, the
department confirmed the identity of the girl's mother through DNA
testing, according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. The body was
exhumed in 2011.
"A DNA match was made
with the mother and the mother has been cooperating," Kelly told
reporters Tuesday. He declined to name the mother or provide details on
the case.
"Homicide is a distinct possibility here, so it's going to go forward in that direction," Kelly said of the investigation.
The girl was never reported missing and police could not track down anyone who might have known her.
The NYPD Cold Case
Apprehension Squad never gave up hope, continuing to hand out flyers and
canvas nearby neighborhoods every year on the anniversary of the
discovery of the body.
"We have been able to
identify the mother of Baby Hope as a result of, in my judgment,
outstanding detective work," Kelly said on Tuesday.
Detective Robert
Dewhurst, a member of the squad, told Olokunbolablog in July that several
detectives were still on the case and that people with information may
speak many years later for many reasons, such as feeling safer after
moving to a new area where they don't see the person responsible every
day.
Sometimes people "want to get it off their chest," said Dewhurst.
For months after Baby
Hope's body was found, police went back to the site hoping whoever was
responsible, driven by guilt, had left some type of memorial that would
have helped police.
Baby Hope, two years
after she was found, was laid to rest in a donated plot. She was buried
in a white dress bought by a detective's wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I like knowing my fans better. Kindly drop your comment using your name/url/Google accounts and not as Anonymous. Thanks for your understanding.