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The bodies of two boys and two girls were found inside a shoebox, wrapped in tin foil, and stored in a freezer at an apartment at 838 East Broadway on November 17, 2022. After more than a year and a half long investigation, police have been unable to determine when they were born, when they died, or how long they had been frozen, DA Kevin Hayden said on Tuesday, April 30.
Hayden said he could not ethically press charges with so many questions unanswerable.
This investigation, which is one of the most complex, unusual and perplexing that this office has ever encountered, is now complete. While we have some answers, there are many elements of this case that will likely never be answered.
DNA tests show that Alexis Aldamir, who moved into the home in 1982, was the children's mother. Police identified the father, but his name was not released. He died in 2011.
Investigators do not know when the 71-year-old Aldamir gave birth or if the children were even born alive. No milk or formula was found in their stomachs during an autopsy, which meant police could not rule out that they were stillborn, Hayden said.
The babies were fully gestated, meaning the pregnancy had lasted 37 to 40 weeks, and all had their umbilical cords still attached. However, it's unclear if they were born together or were from multiple pregnancies.
The medical examiner ruled the deaths as undetermined, which limited options for any potential charges, Hayden said. The prosecutor added he did not know if Aldamir was competent to stand trial.
Police interviewed her at a nursing home following the grisly discovery, but she "appeared confused and demonstrated a lack of understanding about where she was and who she was speaking to," Hayden said in a news release.
WCVB reported in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with dementia.
Aldamir had a baby girl in 1982 that she gave up for adoption, but there are no other records that she was ever pregnant again. That child had the same father as the other four, but he was not included on the birth certificate, Hayden said.
Aldamir worked at a Boston accounting firm from 1980 until 2021. Co-workers described her to police as a heavy-set woman who wore loose-fitting clothing year round. None of them knew she had ever been pregnant.
Hayden said the lack of definitive evidence, a clear timeline, and the mountain of unanswerable questions led him to close the case without charges.
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