Authorities used DNA to break "Baby Hope" cold case open, possibly identifying the mother of the unknown dead baby more than twenty years after finding her.
The Associated Press reports the New York Police Department received a tip about the case this summer. Investigators were able to match the DNA to the woman in question, according to an AP source.
"Baby Hope" was found July 23, 1991 in a picnic cooler near the Henry Hudson Parkway. "Baby Hope" was reportedly naked in the cooler and showed signs of sexual abuse and malnourishment.
According to AP, authorities believe the little girl was dead six to eight days before she was found.
"She was estimated to be between 3 and 5 years old when she died, and weighed just 25 pounds," NY1 reports. "Her arms were tied and she appeared to have been starved, beaten and sexually abused."
NYPD paid for her burial in a Bronx cemetery for "Baby Hope" in 1993, clothing her in a white dress and placing her to rest in a white coffin.
"Maybe she might have worried, and you know where was her daughter, why she never came up and ask you know what happened to my daughter I mean these are questions that pop up in everybody's mind, What happened?" a Washington Heights resident told NY1, speculating what happened to "Baby Hope."
Police reportedly began asking the public for help tips again this summer, posting flyers of the girl in Washington Heights area.
According to AP, retired Detective Jerry Giorgio said in an interview in July he had pursued hundreds of leads but couldn't break the case.
"It was so frustrating," Giorgio said. "We initially thought we'll get her identified and go from there and probably solve the case. It didn't happen."
Authorities are reportedly questioning the alleged mother of "Baby Hope."
