In 2016, residents of a home at the Willow Key Apartment complex in Orlando, Florida, found a newborn baby on their doorstep. In 2017, another baby was found at the apartment complex. In July 2019, a one-day-old baby was found on the same doorstep.
Police were called around 10 a.m. to the apartment building in July and found the newborn wrapped in a T-shirt. Included with the baby was a note that claimed the mother feared the father and that the baby may have been at risk. The baby abandoned in 2017 had a note asking the person who found the baby to take her to a fire station.
The Orlando Sentinel reported last week that an Orlando Police Department (OPD) detective submitted the babies’ DNA for testing and found a shocking result: All three abandoned newborns were siblings and had the same mother and father.
OPD then requested $5,000 from Orlando city commissioners to hire United Data Connect, described by the Sentinel as “a company that employs genetic genealogists and maintains a vast database of DNA profiles.” OPD wants to use the company to find the parents who have abandoned three newborns in three years.
“Based on the egregious and neglectful behavior of the parent(s), and the bizarre facts of this case, unlike any other documented case, it is imperative to conduct a well-being check of all involved parties,” Detective Ghena Wasserman Luker wrote in a memo to Chief Orlando Rolón, the Sentinel reported.
Last week, city commissioners unanimously approved the extra funding, “which comes out of the law enforcement trust fund, a reservoir of leftover forfeiture money that can be requested for special police needs such as extra equipment or offsetting the cost of a complex investigation,” the Sentinel reported.
Florida has a Safe Haven Law, which allows guardians to abandon a newborn baby up to 7 days old at a hospital or fire station without fear of criminal charges.
“When that happens, the child is given any medical treatment needed and put in custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families. In 2018, 223 infants across the country were recovered through Safe Haven laws,” the Sentinel reported.
Luker wrote in a memo that using DNA testing, investigators were able to identify possible family members, but “[i]nformation learned from the testing requires specialized knowledge of a genetic genealogist in order to be properly interpreted in an effort to identify the parents.”
OPD spokeswoman Heidi Rodriguez told the Sentinel that if the parents are identified, the department’s priority would be “to ensure the safety and well being of the mother and of any other children.” Rodriguez added that social services and medical attention “will be determined once we make contact with the family and determine their needs.”
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