New case announcement: Baby Jane II
Press release text and photo via Jackson County Sheriff’s Department:
33 years after the autopsy was performed on a newborn baby girl found in the Pascagoula River, Jackson County Sheriff’s Investigators exhumed her body Wednesday, June 30.
On June 28,1988, two men fishing in the Pascagoula River near the wildlife management area in Wade, found the child’s body in the water entangled in fishing line. Two days later, on June 30, an autopsy revealed the child was 3-5 weeks old, and died from drowning. She became known as Baby Jane Doe II. She is buried in the Jackson County Memorial Park in Pascagoula, next to the Baby Jane Doe found in 1982 in the Escatawpa River. That baby was identified late last year.
No suspects or leads were ever found in the 1988 case. Sheriff Mike Ezell says by exhuming the child, investigators hope to collect DNA to build a family tree. Her remains are now at the Mississippi Crime Lab where DNA will be collected. The lab work is funded by a private grant from Season of Justice Corporation, a Baltimore, Maryland non-profit. Redgrave Research Forensic Services in Athol, Massachusetts will try to build a profile of the child’s family history. The owners of the Jackson County Memorial Park donated the cost of the baby’s exhumation.
Anyone with information on this case can call the sheriff’s department at 228-769-3063, or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers. All information will remain confidential.
Redgrave Research would like to thank Jackson County Memorial Park, Jackson County Coroner’s Office, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, especially Detective Matthew Hoggatt, Season of Justice, Dr. Anastasia Holobinko from the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office, DNALabsInternational, HudsonAlphaDiscovery, Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations, Darren Versiga, and Joe & Samantha Bignell for their parts in moving this case forward. Special acknowledgement and thanks to Senior intern and case co-lead Olivia McCarter for organizing this amazing group of people and departments to make this progress happen for Baby Jane II.
Please check back, this page will be updated with any media links and more details as we are able to share them.
