NJ NJ - Turnersville, 'Baby Christine', WhtFem Infant, UP1634, Serengheti beach towel, Dec'86

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/53ufnj.html

Unidentified White Female Newborn Located on December 4, 1986 in Washington Township, New Jersey
<LI>Cause of death was asphyxia (suffocation).



Vital Statistics

• Estimated age: The child was born the same day as she died and was discovered.
• Approximate Height and Weight: 7 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Dark hair and brown eyes.
• Clothing: She was found inside of a gray plastic kitchen bag wrapped in a multi-colored beach towel (pictured below). The towel is called the Serenghetti Beach Towel and depicts an African plain scene.

Case History
The victim was discovered in a trash dumpster behind a pizzeria in Washington Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey on December 4, 1986. The coroner determined that the infant had been born, suffocated and located on the same day.
Her mother is believed to be White as well; she would have been physically showing her pregnancy in the later summer and autumn months of 1986. The mother of the child has never been located.

Wow thats amazing how they could come up with a sketch of the mother as well. Does it sound a bit strange though how the baby was white but born with brown eyes? I didn't think that really happened until at least a month or so after birth. Maybe they are on the wrong track describing the baby as caucasian? i don't know much on this sort of thing, just going on experience.

I am a caucasian born with brown eyes and so was my brother. Maybe we are oddballs though. :crazy:

Interesting they did a sketch of what they mother might look like.

I'm still baffled as to how they were able to do a sketch of what the mother possibly looks like and they are still unable to identify the child

tennessee said:

I am a caucasian born with brown eyes and so was my brother. Maybe we are oddballs though. :crazy:

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Well there you go, LOL! Sorry, I hope I didn't offend you or anyone else by saying that, I don't know much about eye colors at birth to do with races and all that:blushing:

I'm really curious as to how they got the scetch of the mother so I've been researching some newspaper articles. Here's a few bits from various articles (though nothing about the sketch - I think maybe they did an age progression from the baby?):

Baby Christine:

The dead baby girl was found in a silver-colored plastic bag behind Paisano's Restaurant in the Towne Center Shopping Center on Black Horse Pike by a farmer searching for garbage for his pigs - she was dumped there sometime between 1a - 8:30a. The baby was born alive, full term, and only hours old when she died of suffocation. The child is described as a caucasian with a dark complexion. She was a perfect baby girl with black hair.

The child's umbilical cord had been cut, but not in a manner that a doctor would have done. Blood tests confirm that the mother was white. A group of anti-abortion activists associated with the Catholic Diocese of Camden arranged a burial for the infant. Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill provided a free plot. The group gave the child a name, ''Christine."

The towel has a picture of a leopard looking down on African plains animals under a purple sky with white clouds. The towel is marked "Copyright 1985 Miller Gilbert Publishing" along the margin. The manufacturer's tag was faded and unreadable. Investigators are checking with the U.S. Patent Office in Washington to see whether the towel was distributed only in this area or sold nationwide.

The Police Benevolent Association Local 318, Washington Township, for the first time ever, offered a $500 reward for anyone able to identify who left left the baby. A local businessman has added $1,000.

Washington Township has a group that offers pregnant young teens and women free counseling as well as free housing, medical care, and support.

I can't believe that someone would not notice that a girl who was previously pregnant was suddenly no longer pregnant and there was no sign of the baby.

Sometimes it is very hard to tell that a teen girl is pregnant. I've had teens in my classes who wear baggy clothes and hide their pregnancies very well. I knew a girl who never bought maternity clothes -- she just needed to wear her jeans unbuttoned in the last couple months of pregnancy. With a big ol' baggy sweatshirt on top of that, unless you knew she was pregnant, you would never guess.

Is the baby mixed race? White mother, but born with dark complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes -- maybe the father was African American, and that's why the mother did what she did.

There must be more information that police have about this which led them to make the picture of the mother. How else could they do it??

mjak

Mr. E said:

Is the baby mixed race? White mother, but born with dark complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes -- maybe the father was African American, and that's why the mother did what she did.

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I was thinking mixed race, too. Maybe hispanic. It really saddens me that the mother had all that free help available, but chose instead to kill her little girl.

Didi anyone see all the babies on the Doe's update page? Sad.

2sisters said:

Didi anyone see all the babies on the Doe's update page? Sad.

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I know, it's really sad. I think there are at least 1 or 2 abandoned babies across the US every day, some alive, some not.

Bumping for Baby Christine.

The pic below is the Composite depicting what the mother might have looked like.

From the Doe Network webite Profile





and a picture of the beach towel she was found wrapped in.




Maybe someones memory will be jogged by the photos.

.

I'm most curious about the photo of what the mom may have looked like.



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Linda7NJ said:

I'm most curious about the photo of what the mom may have looked like.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

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There is a composite picture of Baby Christine on the Doe Network website and I think they have taken much of what they think the mother looks like from Baby Christine. There are similarities in the eyes and the face shape.

Im not sure when the composite of the mothers photo was done - it maybe around the time soon after Baby Christine was found.

.

Marie said:

I was thinking mixed race, too. Maybe hispanic. It really saddens me that the mother had all that free help available, but chose instead to kill her little girl.

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I am sure it saddens her too. Hopefully she got help in some way.

I was not local back then; was trying to figure out what shopping plaza it is now. With the location; the girl can be from a number of states. I had my son in 85; times were different then; especially if the baby was mixed. The girl probably learned too late in her pregnancy to get a termination; then freaked out when she delivered. I wonder how she's lived with herself knowing her child was killed by either her, the father or one of their parents. Possible she is deceased too. I had a friend that was tortured by terminating a pregnancy in the 80's; ended up dying from a drug over dose

NCMEC BeachTowel

N.j. Slain-baby Case Stymies Police By John Jennings, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: December 13, 1986

The investigation has taken police to Philadelphia and several South Jersey counties.

Investigators continue to hope that an unusual beach towel in which the infant was wrapped may lead them to the mother. The towel has a white background and a depiction of a leopard sitting between two trees.

Investigators are checking with the U.S. Patent Office in Washington to see whether the towel was distributed only in this area or sold nationwide.

Reese said investigators had checked out a few tips of women who had been pregnant around the time the dead baby was found in a silver-colored plastic bag behind Paisano's Restaurant in the Towne Center Shopping Center on Black Horse Pike.

Police have questioned people who work near the restaurant in an effort to find informants who may have seen someone place the bag in the dumpster, Reese said.

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Could the mother have been a college student at either Rowan University or Gloucester County College? The baby was found dead the same day it was born (or something like that), so the baby would have been born in Dec 86. The mother could have easily taken a hiatus from her Fall semester, or heck even worn an oversized hoodie with lounge pants to school. She'd only have to hide her pregnancy for a month or two. I think she could have been a college student bc anyone else might have had an everyday job with friends that would have seen them on a daily basis. This mother could have had a boyfriend or one night stand, gotten pregnant but broken up, student in a school away from her hometown and maybe not very close with her roommate - it's feasible I think...

http://www.gloucestercountynj.gov/depts/p/prosoffice/invunits/unsolved/janedoe1.asp

Jane Doe #1

Unsolved Homicide
On December 4, 1986, the body of a full term white newborn female was found in a dumpster at the rear of Paisano Pizzeria in the Towne Shopping Center located on the Black Horse Pike in Turnersville (Washington Township). The body, weighing approximately 7 pounds, was wrapped in a beach towel that depicted an African plains scene. The wrapped body was also in a silver trash bag. The cause of death was ruled asphyxiation and the manner of death is homicide. The infant is still unidentified.

If you have any information concerning the death of Jane Doe #1, please contact:

Washington Township Police Detective Bureau
856-589-0330

Gloucester County Prosecutor&#8217;s Office
Det. Stacie Lick
856-384-5608
slick@co.gloucester.nj.us

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For those researching - Vorhees, Turnersville, Blackwood are all also sometimes used as Washington Twp for addresses.

Priscilla Towne Center? Vorhees Towne Center? No idea, just wondering... Is the Vorhees Towne Center where Echelon Mall used to be?