Detectives Trying To ID Newborn Abandoned On NJ Trash 37 Years Ago

The day after Thanksgiving in 1986, sanitation workers in South Orange made a grisly discovery.

A newborn baby was found dead in this basket 37 years ago.
Photo Credit: *Essex County Prosecutor's Office*

11/22/2023 11:10 a.m.

A dead baby was found atop a trash can behind an apartment building at 5 Cottage Street in South Orange on Nov. 28, 1986, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

The body was wrapped in a towel and a yellow table runner and placed in a wicker picnic basket, which was left on the trash can, prosecutors said. The white male baby weighed five pounds and still had his umbilical cord, prosecutors said.

For 37 years, detectives have been unable to identify the baby or his parents or relatives and are hoping DNA evidence and genetic databases will help them crack the case, prosecutors said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact prosecutors at HomicideTips@njecpo.org.

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