It's been just over a week since a worker at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District saw an infant's body on a conveyor belt that moves waste toward its eventual final destination at the landfill. And now Monterey County Sheriff's Office investigators are asking the public's help in figuring out the true identify of the girl they've named Baby Marina, and how her body came to be disposed of in the trash.
"Somebody out there knows something," says Det. Sgt. Bryan Hoskins, "and that’s who we need to talk to."
The sheriff's office received a report at about 1:30pm on April 28 that a worker at the Materials Recovery Facility in Marina had discovered the infant's body on the recycling sort line; the MRF is where residential and commercial recyclables from Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties are sorted. The baby girl was full-term, investigators say, and after a week of running down leads in the case, they're no closer to determining her identity.
"We have extensively and exhaustively worked the leads in this case. The public came forward and provided information; all those leads checked out but they did not help us identify who Baby Marina is," Hoskins says.
At a 1pm press conference, Hoskins, Det. Mike Smith and Cmdr. Kathy Palazzolo asked for word to get out: If you know of someone who was recently pregnant and no longer is—if that person is not seen walking with the baby or posting pictures of the baby, or if that person isn't speaking about the baby—they'd like you to call. Anything that seems off—no tip is too small.
"We really need the public’s help in this case, no matter how little or insignificant is it," Hoskins says. "The phones have stopped ringing at this point, other than community support to make sure she gets a proper burial."
Adds Smith: "It's no harm, no foul" to call and tell us of a situation where you know of someone who gave birth but doesn't seem to be taking care of a newborn: "We will follow up (and) if we see a happy, healthy baby, we move on."
The MRWMD takes in 220 tons of recycling a day. Since arriving at the scene last week, Smith says he's watched hours upon hours of video and has been working with waste management engineers to determine where the baby's body may have been dumped before arriving in Marina. The case is being investigated as a homicide, but few details are being released, including the baby's apparent race, any identifying marks such as a birthmark and if and how the baby was dressed when she was found.
According to investigators, though, it doesn't appear right now that the baby was born at a local hospital.
"We have reached out to the hospitals, and at this point we know of no matching cases of a baby born in a local hospital" that can't be accounted for, Hoskins says. "We are focusing on where the baby came from within a three-county area."
Part of the investigation will include running the baby's DNA through CODIS, the federal Combined DNA Index System, in the hopes they'll find a familial match between the baby and a relative who may be in that system. They will also be working with genealogy experts who have volunteered their services searching through commercial DNA databases, such as 23andMe or Ancestry, to see if they can match the baby's DNA to someone who is registered with such services.
“Grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins—whoever it is, we want to give this child back to her family,” Hoskins says. As a part of the investigation, the Sheriff's office will keep the baby's body for 30 days, and potentially longer, as they try to locate her family.
"We don't want to keep this baby from being at rest any longer than we have to," he says.
Investigators are also asking the baby's parents to come forward to share their side of what happened.
"We want to reach out to the mom and dad of Baby Marina. No matter what happened, if they come forward and talk to us, we want to know their side of this," Hoskins says. "It might not have been their intent that the baby end up in a landfill, but we want to ask them to come talk to us. It’s hard to imagine what you would have to go through to place their baby in this situation."
Even as leads dried up, there's been an outpouring of support to give the baby a proper funeral. Workers at the waste management facility have taken up a collection to pay for it, and several other people have reached out to the Sheriff's Office and offered to assist financially as well. The Catholic Diocese, meanwhile, has offered to hold a service and a proper burial.
Palazzolo says investigators have named the baby Marina because she deserved to have a name.
"We didn't want her to be a Jane Doe or a Baby Doe because she deserved a name. Nobody deserves to be treated the way Baby Marina was treated, especially an innocent, and there's nobody more innocent than an infant," she says. "This has hit everybody. It's just a terrible thing that nobody should have to deal with."
Hoskins adds that per California law, if you give birth to a baby and are unable to care for it, you can take the baby to a hospital or a fire station and leave the baby there in someone's care, no questions asked.
Anyone with information about Baby Marina is asked to call Detective Mike Smith at 755-3762.
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