THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100523
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Flowers. Stuffed bears. Slowly turning pinwheels. A child-sized basketball. All are signs of joy and playfulness. But even with them, the infant section of Chesapeake's Greenlawn Memorial Gardens is a sobering place.
The grave markers are small and close together. Many display a single date for birth and death. Some bear only a family name preceded by ``Infant Son'' or ``Infant Daughter.''
And there's one, toward the back of the hedge-lined plot, on the left, that makes do with just a first name:
Baby Matthew
Known Only to God
Loved by Many
1987-1987
That's what happens sometimes when a child dies and no one knows who he is, when no parents or other family members step forward to claim the body.
Seven years ago, Portsmouth police helped arrange for the funeral and burial of the abandoned boy, named Matthew by a Chesapeake grandmother who raised money for the marker.
Police are trying to do the same for Baby Angel Valentine. She was the unidentified newborn girl who was found dead Feb. 13 in the garbage at the Southeastern Public Service Authority's trash-to-steam plant and named by plant workers.
But Matthew and Baby Angel are the exceptions.
Most abandoned bodies - whether found in the street or left unclaimed in state hospitals or prisons - don't get much of a send-off.
Virginians still have an old common-law duty - meaning from court precedents, not statutes - to give ``a decent burial'' to dead strangers they find on their property. But usually today, rescue workers or police are called, and the state takes over.
In fact, state law requires that in such cases the medical examiner be notified and the cause of death established. The law also requires that officials make ``good faith efforts'' to identify the families of those found dead.
``There is no time limit cast in stone,'' said Ray Murray of the Tidewater District Medical Examiner's Office in Norfolk. ``It's as long as it takes.
``You can safely say it's not uncommon for a body to be here for several months,'' if it's unidentified, he said.
If those efforts fail, the law allows the bodies to be taken by the state and used for medical or scientific study - such as in the mortuary science program at John Tyler Community College in Chester, where students practice embalming.
If bodies are not used for education, it's usually up to the local sheriff to arrange for cremation or burial. If the deceased was a state prisoner at the time of death, however, state health officials are responsible for the arrangements.
There's no hard-and-fast statewide procedure.
Sheriffs usually check first with Social Services. The state agency provides its local agencies with emergency funds, some of which can be designated for ``burial assistance'' for unidentified bodies or when families cannot afford burial costs.
Some of the offices have written contracts with local funeral homes to handle such cases, with payments ranging from $200 to $2,000 a case, said Carolyn W. Sturgill, a program consultant at Social Services headquarters in Richmond. Other offices are less formal and simply call around to solicit funeral homes as needed.
Fortunately, they're not needed much. Fewer than a dozen unidentified bodies were found last year in Norfolk, some from visiting foreign ships, said George E. Schaefer, public affairs officer for the Norfolk sheriff's office. Portsmouth has maybe one such case a year, said Judy L. Mallory, the city agency's chief eligibility supervisor.
``The funeral homes are very cooperative in this area,'' Mallory said. ``When we've had a situation, we've always been able to bury that body.''
Carlos A. Howard Funeral Home in Norfolk offered to donate a coffin for Baby Angel and has provided similar services in the past.
Why?
``Because it's a kid, man,'' explained Carlos A. Howard, the home's owner. ``It's a life. These kids didn't ask to come here.''
Portsmouth police have taken it upon themselves to provide a dignified burial for Baby Angel. They've obtained the necessary money, mostly from Social Services, and are negotiating with a funeral home for services. Burial will be in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens. The Minority Police Officers Association of Portsmouth has agreed to pay any separate costs for opening and covering a grave, said Cpl. G.A. Brown, Portsmouth police spokesman.
``This is very personal to me,'' Brown said. ``If we don't get the public support on this, we'll never solve this one.''
Baby Angel's case has struck a nerve at the medical examiner's office, too - particularly because of the accidental way the baby's body was found in the trash.
Said Murray: ``You wonder how many are missed.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
``BABY ANGEL''
Anyone with information about the identity of Baby Angel
Valentine or her parents is asked to call Portsmouth police at
393-8536 or, anonymously, Crime Line at 488-7777.
KEYWORDS: UNIDENTIFIED BODIES
by CNB