CBS2 Exclusive: Nearly 23 Years Later, Police Seek To Solve Brooklyn Baby Girl's Death
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- More than two decades have gone by, and there is still no justice for a baby murdered just after being born in Brooklyn.
As CBS2's Jessica Moore reported, NYPD Cold Case detectives have begun a new look at the case, and they have a new clue.
Nov. 8 marks 23 years since a baby girl only ever known as Jane Doe suffered an unimaginable death. Police said her killers could still live in the Crown Heights neighborhood where she was killed.
"It's a baby," said Crown Heights neighbor George Atkinson. "Anybody would be upset. It's a baby."
Atkinson remembers Nov. 8, 1993 like it was yesterday.
"Why you go and have a child and destroy it?" he said.
A sketch is the only image of the baby girl, who was thrown in an alleyway like a piece of trash. A dish towel was wrapped around her neck, and her umbilical cord and placenta were still intact.
Atkinson said the baby's murder left the neighborhood in shock.
"Everybody was you know, dumbstruck, because everybody was trying to figure out who it was did that, where the person came from, where the person is," he said.
Police said it happened on Montgomery Street. Investigators believe either a young mother who had the baby in secret or the baby's father threw the infant out of a window.
"This case in particular, with a young newborn baby, is extra important," said NYPD Cold Case Squad Commanding Officer Lt. David Nilsen.
When asked if the people responsible for the baby's death might still live in Crown Heights, Nilsen said: "It's possible. We believe if not the person that's responsible for the baby's death, maybe people who know something are still part of that community."
Nilsen hopes a $2,500 reward will motivate someone to do the right thing.
"We just would like anyone who knows something to come forward, and if you know something, say something," Nilsen said. "Even though it's many years ago, it's still important to this child."
It is also important to Nilsen himself – solving the cases that many people consider unsolvable.
"At times, they feel impossible, but they're never impossible," he said. "It's one lucky break, you know, one lucky tip. One lead, and things get done."
Crime Stoppers is offering the $2,500 reward for information that leads to solving the case.
