DNA and video used to identify mother accused of leaving dead baby in park

DNA analysis and surveillance footage were among the tools used to identify a mother accused of leaving a dead baby in a New Bedford, Massachusetts, park last year. On Dec. 9, New Bedford police responded to Fort Taber Park at around 12:40 p.m. after receiving a 911 call about the discovery of a dead baby. Officers who went to the park learned that a woman was walking along a trail near the water with her juvenile niece when she spotted a blanket near some bushes beside the trail. The woman also smelled the odor of decomposition. The woman approached the blanket and found a white plastic bag inside, in which police said the decomposing body of an infant was found. When the woman made the disturbing discovery, she immediately called two men who were walking their dog nearby, and one of those men called 911. Video below: 2023 report of grisly discovery. Investigators later determined that the baby, a boy, was abandoned in the area on Nov. 6, meaning the body had been there for more than a month before it was discovered, according to a statement from Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn’s office. “Due to the state of decomposition in which the baby was found, the medical examiner was unable to determine if the baby had been alive prior to the infant’s alleged abandonment in the park. The cause and manner of death could not be determined,” Quinn’s statement said. Daniela Michell Escobar-Mejia, 22, of New Bedford, was charged with improper disposal of a body in connection with the case. Quinn’s office said that through a DNA test, she was determined to be the boy’s mother.