Infant skeleton found in suitcase, Hempfield Township, PA, Dec 2007

[Audie]

Jan. 1, 2008, 1:22AM
Scientist to examine infant skeleton found in suitcase

Associated Press

GREENSBURG, Pa. — An infant's skeleton found in a dead woman's suitcase was born at 35 weeks gestation, but authorities don't know its gender or how long it had been there.

There was no sign of trauma to the fetus, whose remains were found Saturday in Hempfield Township, said Westmoreland County chief deputy coroner Paul Cycak. The cause and manner of death will likely be ruled undetermined, he said.

The remains also will be examined by a forensic anthropologist at Mercyhurst College, state police said. It remains unclear when that examination will take place. Police said the investigation is ongoing.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht used bone measurements and other techniques to determine the fetus' age, Cycak told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The fetus was wrapped in a "smock," its arms folded across its chest and its knees tucked into its chest in a fetal position, Cycak said.

State police said adult siblings cleaning out their elderly mother's house after she died in early December found the skeleton in an "old style" suitcase stored under the woman's bed. Cycak said the suitcase appeared to be from the 1950s.

The siblings did not recognize the suitcase as their mother's, but said clothes found inside belonged to her, Trooper Lisa Jobe said. Police did not immediately release the dead woman's name.

No charges have been filed. The coroner did not immediately return calls for comment from The Associated Press on Monday.

Hempfield Township is about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5415177.html

[Roamer]

Wow. What a shock to find something like this after your mother passes away. :shock:

[Grins]

Wow. What a shock to find something like this after your mother passes away. :shock:
Hi Roamer and Audie :howdy:
Wonder why she didn't bury the child in the back yard. She had to know the suitcase would be opened someday.

Great sig Roamer~me too!

[Roamer]

Hi Roamer and Audie :howdy:
Wonder why she didn't bury the child in the back yard. She had to know the suitcase would be opened someday.

Great sig Roamer~me too!

Thanks. :hifive: I can't imagine a better place to spend eternity, can you?

[cogito]

My wife and I saw this. We had a child born at the same gestation time. He was delivered by me in a hospital room when the nurses in our little one-horse town hospital had gone on break. My wife went into labor and had our second son. I screamed for help as my wife cried and I watched our little Gavin struggle to breathe.

The doctors would not let us have the body for burial. They cited some law but I suspect that they were taking advatage of our youth and intimidating us so we would not file a lawsuit. To this day, almost 25 years later, my wife cries all day on August 1st.

Anyway, my wife said that she completely understood why someone would do what this woman did. You have a child that is born so premature that you're not sure whether or not you'd be given the right to bury it.

[Nut44x4]

Questions about baby skeleton may never be solved
Friday, January 04, 2008

Many of the mysteries surrounding an infant skeleton discovered Dec. 29 in the suitcase of a recently deceased elderly woman in Hempfield likely will never be solved.

Whether the infant had been stillborn or alive at birth, whether its death was natural, accidental or intentional, and just when it died will likely always remain unknown because, in this case, forensic science has no way to answer those queries.

"There's no way in the world you can determine that," said forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, who at the behest of the Westmoreland County coroner's office examined the remains discovered by adult siblings who were cleaning out their late mother's home.

Using measurements of six long bones, Dr. Wecht was able to determine the fetus was at 35 weeks gestation. He said there were no signs of traumatic injury to the skeleton such as broken bones, eliminating that as a cause of death.

Other than that, however, there was nothing else Dr. Wecht could glean from his forensic examination.

"I can't tell you whether the bones are from 15, 25 or 35 years ago," Dr. Wecht said. "I can say it's many years, most likely more than a decade."

He recalled that in a somewhat similar case years ago he was able to answer the time element question because the skeleton had been wrapped in newspapers, providing an approximate date of death. But in the Hempfield case, there are no such clearly dated clues.

The fetus was found wrapped in a decomposed, nondescript article of clothing, possibly an adult's wrap or shawl. The fetus's arms were folded across its chest and its knees were tucked into its chest in the fetal position.

The deceased woman, whom authorities have not identified, was in her 80s when she died earlier in December. Her husband had died about three years earlier. Her surviving children, who are in their 40s and 50s, were preparing their mother's home for sale when they came upon the suitcase under a bed.

Shocked at the contents, they contacted state police, telling investigators they had no knowledge whatsoever of the skeleton or how it came to be there. They did say the suitcase, which appeared to date from the 1950s, "had been around forever," said Westmoreland County Chief Deputy Coroner Paul B. Cycak.

Because of all of that, authorities speculate the woman gave birth to the fetus about 40 to 50 years ago. But they quickly added this was only a working assumption.

Furthermore, the case presents the coroner's office with a pragmatic problem: Just how much money and time should be spent on the investigation?

"There's probably not going to be any prosecution. The people involved aren't here, they're deceased," Mr. Cycak said. "What do you do with it? Do I spend thousands of dollars to do something that probably isn't necessary?"

DNA tests may be conducted to determine the gender of the infant and the relationship to the deceased woman, but no decision will be made until Coroner Kenneth Bacha returns from leave next week, Mr. Cycak said.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John W. Peck said his office is awaiting the conclusion of the investigation by the state police and coroner's office. He added, however, that unless investigators come upon evidence unknown at this point -- from a confidant or diary of the deceased woman, for example -- just what occurred and when may never be answered.

"We need some third-party witness who has details to come forward, but that person might not exist," he said.

In the meantime, the remains will be sent for examination by forensic anthropologist Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat at Mercyhurst College in Erie.

"Our primary purpose is to provide an inventory for the coroner's office. With an individual this young, there's not a lot more we can do," he said.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08004/846585-59.stm