Police hope DNA will help ID dead newborn found in 1984

MILLVILLE, Pa. (AP) — DNA tests conducted on a newborn whose decomposing remains were found near a trail 24 years ago have excluded two women as the mother.

A state trooper hopes the recent DNA testing will someday help him identify both the child and mother.

The infant, whose remains were apparently mutilated by animals, is believed to have been a boy, authorities in central Pennsylvania said.

State police Cpl. Michael Reffeor reopened the case, which had gone unsolved since the partial remains were found in a yard along the Austin Trail near Millville on July 11, 1984.

A portion of the umbilical cord was still attached. The body was missing an upper torso, but the head and lower torso were recovered, Reffeor said.

The most promising lead came when Reffeor learned that a bone sample had been saved in the evidence file when the child was buried. That saved him the task of getting a court order to exhume the remains, he said.

Reffeor sent the sample to the University of North Texas, which has created a DNA profile of the child and tested others involved in the investigation.

“This was huge,” Reffeor said. “Goal No. 1 was accomplished.”

The results have been logged in a national DNA database that could yield a match if the mother or another relative is ever entered into the system.

Meanwhile, Reffeor continues to pursue other new leads — some helpful, some not — that followed a news report last year about the DNA tests.