Adams County Baby John Doe Unidentified White Male Newborn
Found June 13, 1981 in Huntington Township, Adams County.
Case Details
On Saturday, June 13, 1981, between 12 and 12:30pm, a newborn male child was found on the bank of a pond on White Oak Tree Road in Huntington Township. The pond is located on private property. The property owners said that the child had apparently been put into a white plastic bag and placed in the pond. The bag may have been in the pond as early as Thursday, June 11th. The residents' children had seen the bag floating in the pond, but didn't think it was anything unusual since it was about the same color and size of the gallon milk jugs that their mother used to mark off the area of the pond used for wading.
It wasn't until the owner and a relative were adding an algacide to the water that they noticed the bag, which by then was on the bank of the pond. A closer look at the torn bag revealed the child's remains.
An autopsy conducted by both the County Coroner and a forensic pathologist revealed that the baby had been born alive and was likely 2 or 3 days old at time of death. He was uncircumsized and the umbilical cord was not tied off, leading investigators to believe that his birth was not attended by a medical professional. He was probably placed in the pond between June 7th and June 11th.
The pond where the infant was found is in a remote area, not visible from the road. Whoever dumped the baby would likely have walked along White Oak Tree Road, then walked through the high grass to toss the baby into the pond. Despite the pond's remote location, there is no concrete evidence suggesting that the child's mother is local and therefore familiar with the road and the pond's location. The possibility exists that the child was discarded by someone passing through the area.
Police are asking that anyone who knew a woman who was full-term pregnant in the summer of 1981, who lost a child for unexplained reasons, to please come forward.
If you have any information about this case, please contact:
Pennsylvania State Police Troop H - Gettysburg Trooper Michael Gayman 717-334-8111
Sources Adams County Crimestoppers Pennsylvania State Police - Gettysburg The Gettysburg Times NewsLibrary.com
