Not forgotten, but still not identified
Aug. 6—Baby Boy has not been forgotten.
The infant boy was found dead in the now defunct West Side Landfill 43 years ago today on Aug. 6, 1980, by a bulldozer operator spreading trash.
What was thought to be a doll was the infant boy upon closer inspection.
The infant was originally believed to have been alive for one to two hours after birth, but the late Luzerne County Coroner Dr. George E. Hudock determined the infant was alive for 24 to 72 hours after birth and expired due to acts of omission.
Hudock conducted the autopsy at the Andrew Strish Funeral Home in Larksville, but was unable to determine if the infant was dead before being dumped at the landfill.
Then on Sept. 26, 2006, Baby Boy — as the infant's grave marker reads — was exhumed from St. Anthony's of Padua Cemetery in Courtdale to extract DNA that was analyzed by the University of South Florida Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, which produced a genetic facial image. Samples were also taken and secured for DNA and forensic isotope testing.
Baby Boy was re-interred shortly after exhumation in the adjacent St. John's Slovak Cemetery under the same marker and next to a tall tombstone dedicated to the deaths of unborn children.
State police at Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County District Attorney Samuel Sanguedolce held a news conference on Feb. 16, 2022, announcing renewed efforts to identify Baby Boy with the goal of raising $5,000 in donations, which was reached within two days.
The monetary donations were used to pay for specialized forensic testing of degraded DNA at Othram Laboratories near Houston, Texas.
Trooper Bill Evans III, public information officer for Troop P, stated last week there were no updates on the case.
So, Baby Boy remains anonymous and so do those responsible for discarding the infant.
Previous published stories reported landfill authority records showed 94 trucks dumped garbage on Aug. 6, 1980, up from their average of 64 per day.
After five to seven loads, a bulldozer operator leveled the trash and covered the garbage with dirt.
The last load to dump prior to the infant being found was from Kingston, which had a garbage packer and three dump trucks at the site. Garbage also came from Larksville, Courtdale and a Kingston private hauler who picked up trash in various places, including Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming.
The late Andrew Strish, a deputy coroner in 1980, held onto custody of the infant for approximately two weeks before he was buried. Strish provided the funeral and Barre Monument Co. in Wilkes-Barre donated the marker for the infant.
Anyone with information pertaining to this investigation should contact the Pennsylvania State Police, Troop P, Wilkes-Barre Criminal Investigation Unit at 570-822-5400, Evans stated.
