THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 28, 1995 TAG: 9502280270
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The case of Baby Angel Valentine has turned into a rare one for Dr. Leah Bush of the state medical examiner's office in Norfolk.
The baby girl's body was found Feb. 13 on a conveyor belt at Portsmouth's Southeastern Public Service Authority plant on Victory Boulevard. And Bush, assistant medical examiner in Norfolk, did the autopsy on the body.
Bush was able to determine that the child was alive at birth, that she suffered considerable trauma before she died and that she lived for, at most, several hours. The Portsmouth police are investigating the death as a homicide, believing that someone killed the baby and then tossed the body into a trash bin somewhere in South Hampton Roads.
But Angel Valentine's identity is proving to be more difficult to nail down than that of the other abandoned babies that Bush has investigated during her career in Norfolk.
``This is the first time in my personal experience where it has been a week or two where they haven't definitely identified the child,'' Bush said Monday.
At this late date, help from the public may be the only hope of identifying the child's parents, Bush said.
``The public could be helpful,'' Bush said. ``If anyone has information about a pregnancy that suddenly went away, they might be able to supply us with names of possible suspect mothers.''
Suspects can then be subjected to DNA testing, which will either match them with the baby or clear them, Bush said.
The infant was nicknamed by SPSA employees because she was found among trash at the plant on the day before Valentine's Day. In her memory, a pink bow was placed on the machinery where the girl's body was found, and workers there continue to wear pink ribbons.
Because the trash plant handles refuse from all over southeastern Virginia, tracking how the body got to the plant has been difficult.
The baby could have been put in a bin in any city in South Hampton Roads before being carried by truck to the trash plant.
Police have already conducted blood tests on three women, said police Detective Robert Simmons, who is in charge of the investigation.
Simmons said he contacted all local hospitals after the discovery of the body in hopes of getting leads from medical personnel who might have treated a woman for post-delivery problems.
But police realize that the parents could have been transients who dropped off the baby on their way through Hampton Roads, Simmons said.
Unfortunately, he said, the more time that passes, the harder it will be to solve the case.
Simmons said the Portsmouth Police Department is making arrangements to provide Angel Valentine with a proper funeral, sometime within the next two weeks.
``No one is speaking for that child in this case, except the Police Department,'' he said. ``It is obvious that the parents did not care. How could someone throw a baby away like that?''
KEYWORDS: ABANDONED BABIES AND CHILDREN by CNB