http://articles.mcall.com/1993-04-24/news/2921702_1_infant-s-mother-baby-buriedKutztown Buries Baby Found Dead In Trash Can
Mother Still Not KnownApril 24, 1993|by ANN WLAZELEK, The Morning Call
A baby boy was buried without a name in Kutztown yesterday, two months and one week after the newborn's body was found in the trash can of a Kutztown University bathroom.
The child's little white casket was smaller than most toy chests, and had to be donated along with his outfit and plot.
A stone marker read: "Infant boy, born and died February 1993, in God's love."
About 30 people from the university, borough and news media attended the grave-side service at Fairview Cemetery, just blocks from the university. But there was no sign, authorities said, of the infant's mother.
"We have absolutely no way of knowing the circumstances, feelings and emotions of the woman who gave birth to this tiny baby," said Charlene Miller, a Lutheran minister and mother of three who conducted the service.
A vicar at the university, Miller said she had conducted funeral services for children who had died at birth or at an early age, but never for a child without family.
The thought of the baby being buried without its family is what brought Kutztown students Kristen Zimmerman, Sheri Moyle and Rebecca Hoffmaster to the cemetery, they said, during a cold and blowing April rain.
"Whenever there's a death or a wedding in my family, lots of people show up," Hoffmaster said, disappointed that more students didn't attend the service after it had been widely reported.
The three sang an original lullaby and blew bubbles over the baby's grave.
"I think he deserved a lullaby," said Zimmerman, who said she wrote it on a napkin in a diner the night before.
The unusual circumstances surrounding the baby's death and lack of information about his parents also brought Berks County Coroner William Fatora and two state troopers to the funeral.
All that is known about the child, Fatora has said, is that he apparently died just before birth because his mother had a severe uterine infection that caused his lungs to fill with fluid.
A custodian found the baby Feb. 15 in a waste container at Old Main, a university building used for offices, classrooms and dorms. The newborn's umbilical cord was still attached.
At the funeral service, Fatora noticed a lot of students were watching from dormitories behind the cemetery. He also mentioned a single pink rose, tied with a blue-and-white-checked ribbon, on top of the casket had been dropped off at Ludwick Funeral Home the day before the service by an unidentified young woman.
Yet the investigators said there had been no leads in the case in weeks.
"It would have been wishful thinking that the mother would show up," Fatora said after the service.
Kutztown police and state police have pursued every lead, but to no avail, according to Fatora.
He said the mother could be a student, employee or faculty member at Kutztown, or have no affiliation with the school. Investigators have even checked into people who made contributions on behalf of the baby.
Besides the Ludwick Funeral Home, which donated the casket, the Edward Hildenbrand Funeral Home donated the plot and Miller provided a burial outfit and her services for the funeral. Contributions also were being collected to cover the cost of the headstone.
The child's burial was delayed because of the autopsy, toxicology tests, snow storms and the recent Easter and Passover holidays, Fatora said.
He also hoped that if he waited long enough, the mother might come forward.
"I admit I didn't want to put the little guy to rest as `infant boy' or `baby doe'," Fatora said.
Early on, investigators said the mother could face criminal charges of neglect while carrying the child or of abuse of a corpse, but yesterday Fatora said sympathetically, "she could have been under duress."