Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 2, 1991 TAG: 9102020395
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Based on interviews with some of the city's homeless people and officials at the shelters they frequent, police have formed a composite drawing of a suspect.
The suspect - a short, "somewhat heavy," 20- to 30-year-old white woman with dyed black hair and acne scars - is believed to be named Kim, but she also goes by Michelle.
Police believe she showed up in Roanoke some months ago, joined the homeless "street people" of the downtown Market area and Old Southwest and then left town shortly after the baby was discovered in a Mountain Avenue dumpster.
The infant, dubbed Baby Isaiah by nurses at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, died five days later, on Christmas Eve.
Lt. J.E. Dean of the Roanoke Police Department's youth bureau said Friday that police decided to form a composite sketch of the suspect after hearing the same basic description from numerous people.
"We're not saying at this point that she is the mother, but it points very strongly in that direction," Dean said.
Police hope someone with information will see the composite sketch and notify authorities.
"We feel that there must be somebody out there who knows a lot more than just the name Kim," Dean said.
Authorities have said that the baby's mother could possibly face a charge of first-degree murder. DNA blood tests would likely play a key role in matching the infant with a suspect.
The composite sketch - and the information that led to it - appears to be the first solid lead police have had since the investigation began.
In the days after Isaiah was discovered by an out-of-work construction laborer foraging for aluminum cans, police concentrated their efforts on the Mountain Avenue neighborhood, going door to door and interviewing residents.
As publicity about the case grew, police began to receive calls from people who knew of pregnant women they considered suspicious.
Each tip was tracked down, but with no luck. Investigators interviewed more than 20 women, all of whom were either still pregnant or had given birth to babies that were accounted for.
The investigation then turned to a woman's handbag found in the cardboard box Isaiah had been placed in before he was left in the dumpster. Someone had used a felt tip pen to print "Kim" on the purse.
Police found the purse's owner in Henry County and interviewed the woman before eliminating her as a suspect, Dean said.
The woman told police that she had once lived in the Mountain Avenue area and had probably left the purse behind.
Authorities then began to ask homeless people in the Mountain Avenue area about a pregnant woman named Kim who carried a large handbag.
And that, Dean said, is when they began to hear the same thing. "Everybody started describing the same woman with the same features," he said.
The vagrants told police that the woman had come to Roanoke several months before the baby was found and that she appeared to be pregnant.
One man told police that he saw the woman shortly after Isaiah was discovered and that she told him she had "lost" her baby. Others told police they thought the Department of Social Services had taken custody of the child.
After hearing descriptions from street people, police went to several homeless shelters, where officials said they, too, remembered seeing a pregnant woman named Kim who carried a large handbag.
At that point, police called in an expert from the Virginia State Police to draw a composite sketch. The artist used descriptions from both street people and homeless shelter officials in making the sketch, Dean said.
Although everyone described a white woman, Baby Isaiah appeared to be black. That may be due to a biracial background, Dean said.
Police are saying only that the suspect is believed to be "directly involved" in the case. While they suspect her to be the mother, they say it's possible that she only assisted in abandoning the baby.
Police suspect the woman fled the area after extensive publicity followed Isaiah's discovery. "She hasn't been seen since just after the baby was discovered," Dean said.
Anyone with information can contact police at 981-2212 or 981-2575.
by CNB