ERIE COUNTY — It’s been 43 years since a newborn infant was found dead at a campground in Erie County. Officials have been working to track down the infant’s family for four decades. After years of looking, they eventually named the infant Baby Jane Doe.
“It was a high priority for the department, I know the sheriff was greatly affected by this when it happened,” said Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth.
Sigsworth joined the agency in 1983, one year after Baby Jane Doe was found, and knows first-hand how her death impacted the community.
“This little girl became the community’s daughter, and a lot of folks were upset by this,” Sigsworth said.
On June 2, 1982, a worker at Huron Rover Valley Campground discovered the baby in a portable toilet. The worker was cleaning out the toilet when they discovered Baby Jane Doe the Wednesday after Memorial Day. According to an autopsy report, officials determined the baby was born alive and died in the toilet.
For decades, sheriff deputies have been investigating the case.
“The detectives at that time investigated to the best of their ability, they interviewed a lot of different people, pulled records, traveled around trying to contact people. They located a couple people who remembered seeing a pregnant female at the campground, but they were not able to get a positive identification of that female,” Detective Alexis Harvey said.
Harvey picked up from where they left off, working to get the answers to questions people have had for over four decades.
“It's always very tragic to think about and it’s a case that we would love to solve. Everyone has the question why did this happen? What was this pregnant woman going through in her life that she felt that this is what she had to do? Because I think there's probably a story on that aspect as well,” said Harvey.
Harvey says in the 2000’s DNA started to advance rapidly, and they decided to exhume the body of Baby Jane Doe.
“In 2013 Baby Jane Doe was exhumed ran for DNA to see if any DNA could be taken from the body to potentially provide evidence to further the case. Unfortunately, nothing was able to be determined at that time,” Harvey said.
The department exhumed the body a second time in 2018, hoping to trace her family’s DNA.
“They were able to collect some bone and tissue that could potentially contain DNA, but unfortunately, DNA isn't advanced enough to be able to obtain a usable standard from that mass amount,” Harvey said.
Sigsworth says he was not shocked when they couldn’t find usable DNA.
“After speaking with the pathologist and with the DNA technicians I understood why they couldn’t find any usable DNA. The tech said the newborn child was delivered directly into the chemicals that were in this toilet which could have greatly affected the DNA. The bones weren't fully developed yet,” Sigsworth said.
However, as DNA continues to advance, they are hopeful the department will be able to resubmit the tissue and get a DNA profile unless someone decides to come forward.
“If mom is listening, we'd like to talk to her. We're not going to throw her in jail, we want to talk to her and find out what happened,” said Sigsworth.
The prosecutor would decide whether to file charges, but the sheriff says his main priority is giving Baby Jane Doe a family and a name to put her burial plot that was donated.
“It would bring closure for the community because a lot of people were concerned and the baby would have a mom and a name, and that is important,” said Sigsworth.
Officials are asking people with information on the case to contact the Erie County Sheriff's Department.
