THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250234
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 41 lines
Workers at the regional garbage-fuel power plant found the body of a baby girl Monday among the trash to be burned.
Police said they did not know the baby's identity, race or where she came from. She appeared to be 1 to 3 months old, police said. The body was found between 12:30 and 1 p.m. on a conveyor belt at the power plant, run by the Southeastern Public Service Authority.
Police said they did not know how the baby died.
The plant receives trash from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth. The body probably arrived at the plant Monday, but officials did not know if it had been placed in the trash that day or earlier, said Felicia Blow, the authority's public information director.
Police were searching the garbage Monday to figure out where the body came from.
This is the second time in 16 months that a baby's body was found at the trash plant. In February 1995, the body of a newborn girl was found among the garbage. A plant worker named the infant Angel, and strangers donated a casket, gravesite and funeral. The case remains unsolved.
Three other bodies have been found at the plant in the past five years. All three deaths remain unsolved:
In 1991, a woman's dismembered torso was found amid the trash. It had no head, only one hand, no fingers and no legs. X-rays revealed the torso belonged to Janice Lee, a Chesapeake woman who had been missing for 10 days.
In 1993, a man's body was found at the plant. It was identified as John Lewis, 51, of Suffolk. His body had been dumped in Norfolk.
In 1994, another man's body was found at the plant. It was identified as James A. Brown, 37, of Virginia Beach.
Portsmouth police ask anyone with information about the latest infant death to call detectives at 393-8536 or Portsmouth Crime Line at 488-7777. MEMO: Staff writer Angelita Plemmer contributed to this story.
KEYWORDS: ABANDONED BABIES UNIDENTIFIED BODY by CNB