Traverse City Record-Eagle

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July 21, 2010

Mother of dead infant identified

Body was found on May 14 in a Garfield Township yard

BY ALEX PIAZZA apiazza@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Investigators identified the mother of an infant girl found dead in a Garfield Township yard but remain tight-lipped on details.

The body was discovered May 14 near a fence in the backyard of a house on Gladewood Lane. Deputies used a search warrant to obtain DNA from one of the women associated with the residence, and her DNA matched with that of the infant, said sheriff's Capt. Dave Meachum.

"I'm not even going to call her a suspect," said Meachum, who refused to disclose the woman's name, age, or residence. "We'll submit a report to the prosecutor's office. If they're not going to press any charges, she's not a suspect."

Deputies plan to forward a report to the prosecutor's office within the next couple weeks, but Meachum wouldn't say whether the department will seek criminal charges.

"We got a couple weeks left to tie up some loose ends," said Meachum, who said the woman has cooperated with the investigation. "We're just trying to gather as much information on it as we can."

The Gladewood Lane homeowner would not comment when contacted by a Record-Eagle reporter on Tuesday.

The baby was the result of a full-term pregnancy, but details on how she died remain unknown, Meachum said. Detectives took the body to Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids for an autopsy and hope a full report will shed more light on the cause of death. The investigation suggests homicide, deputies said.

The Gladewood family's dog dragged the infant's body from a storage shed, then disposed of it in the backyard. The homeowner's grandson found the body while toiling at lawn chores.

Deputies helped organize a memorial service for the infant, identified by authorities as "Baby Girl Doe," last month at Oakwood Catholic Diocesan Cemetery in Traverse City.

The baby was placed in a miniature white casket and buried along the cemetery's infant section, named "The Angel Walk." Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home helped cover the funeral expenses, while the Diocese of Gaylord contributed a burial spot and Black Monument Company, out of Grand Rapids, plans to donate an engraved stone.

Prosecutors also continue to await a full autopsy report in another infant's death. Traverse City police in March found a dead newborn boy in the basement of a Griffin Street home after a teen resident was admitted to Munson Medical Center with hemorrhaging caused during childbirth.

Doctors determined the baby was alive when it was born, and police sought homicide charges. The prosecutor's office has yet to decide whether to pursue criminal charges.

"The pathologist performing the autopsy was awaiting additional toxicology reports," said county Prosecutor Alan Schneider. "We have asked him to send us a preliminary report, seeing that the toxicology reports have taken such a long time."

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