Thursday, October 10, 2013

Investigators Learn Baby Hope’s Name: Angelica


The slain child had been unidentified since her remains were found in 1991 in a cooler that had been dumped near the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan. But after a break in the case this summer, detectives were able to determine the identity of the child’s mother and of Baby Hope, who is believed to have been about 4 when she was killed.


The authorities have not publicly released the girl’s name or her parents’ names.


Detectives from the Cold Case Squad have interviewed the mother and other relatives but are still searching for the girl’s father and several of his family members. Toward that end, they have been tracking down other relatives in recent days and are hopeful that those people can provide more leads, a second person with knowledge of the case said on Wednesday.


The police have been knocking on doors in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens, checking records, visiting old addresses and talking to neighbors of the family members, the person said. The process has been slow and laborious, the person said, because some are illegal immigrants and fearful of the authorities.


Based on interviews with the girl’s mother, sisters and other relatives, detectives are beginning to piece together a timeline of Baby Hope’s short life, though many elements of the history are still being confirmed. Her father was an immigrant from Mexico and had lived in Queens at some point, according to a third person with knowledge of the case. The family had at least three daughters. At some point, the parents split. Against the mother’s will, the father took Baby Hope with him; along with a younger sister, Baby Hope lived in her father’s residence for several months before she was killed, the third person said.


Detectives believe that the father had been living with several relatives at the time. Investigators believe the father may still be in the city.


The tip that jump-started the investigation came over the summer, around the time the police were handing out fliers, tacking up posters and sending a van equipped with loudspeakers through Washington Heights in an effort to generate leads in the decades-old case. A woman phoned the police to recount a long-ago conversation in which another woman spoke of a young relative who had been murdered. There were similarities to the Baby Hope case, and detectives tracked down the woman whose relative had been slain. That led detectives to Baby Hope’s mother.


They obtained an envelope that the mother had apparently licked to seal, yielding a DNA profile, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. When scientists with the medical examiner’s office conducted an analysis of that DNA profile and one taken from Baby Hope’s remains, they discovered a link, according to the office.




Joseph Goldstein and William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.






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