He and Hightstown woman have been missing since
June 9
By: Vic Monaco
HIGHTSTOWN An abandoned baby is safe and healthy. His parents are nowhere to be found.
Since the June 9 discovery of a baby outside a Delaware hospital, the single mother of the child, who lived in a borough apartment, and the father, a married man from Millstone, remained missing Tuesday.
And the many items left behind in Amy Giordano’s apartment paint a picture of a woman who left sooner than she planned.
The second-floor apartment at 108 Mercer St. paid for by the baby’s father, Rosario "Roy" DiGirolamo remained full of children’s belongings this week.
A child’s mattress lays next to a double bed. Toys are strewn about including a small basketball backboard inscribed with the name "Michael." A playpen sits in the living room. A baby’s seat is on a chair in the kitchen with "sippy" cups nearby. Most telling, at least initially, to landlord Mike Vanderbeck are two prescription bottles in the refrigerator containing medicine for the baby.
"She spent months trying to get the kid better," the former borough councilman said in a reference to a stubborn skin rash. "The notion that she wouldn’t take the kid’s prescription is inconceivable."
Even more disturbing to Mr. Vanderbeck was his later discovery, Monday, of a woman’s purse in the back of a closet. The purse was full, including such items as credit cards of Ms. Giordano and Mr. DiGirolamo, Social Security cards of the mother and child, cigarettes, keys to the apartment and a signed Mercer County voter registration application dated June 5.
"This person didn’t expect to be leaving the area," said Mr. Vanderbeck. "She’s planning on being here to vote."
Delaware authorities became involved after a baby boy, about a year old, was discovered in the parking lot of the Christiana Medical Center in Newark. A nurse found the child crying under a tree with a note in his diaper. The handwritten note read, "Please help my baby John Vincent. I can no longer take care of him. Lost job, lost medical. God have mercy on me."
But Mr. Vanderbeck said Ms. Giordano was a stay-at-home mother whose apartment rent had been paid since late April of 2006 by Mr. DiGirolamo. And he said she had no car.
"Rosario brought her everywhere," he said.
As of Monday, Mr. DiGirolamo was not the focus of the investigation, according to Hightstown Detective Ben Miller
"We’re more concerned with Ms. Giordano and her welfare," he said.
But, like Ms. Giordano, Mr. DiGirolamo is missing.
"He was last seen June 11 at his place of employment, ConAir (in East Windsor)," said Detective Miller, who added that the computer specialist apparently told no one that he wouldn’t return to work the next day. "No on has been able to contact him since."
The detective said Mr. DiGirolamo’s wife has said she doesn’t know where her husband is.
Monmouth County records indicate the DiGirolamo family has lived on Stevenson Avenue in Millstone since 1999.
Mr. DiGirolamo’s father, who lives in New York, got a call from him June 12 and had a conversation with "nothing unusual" said, according to Detective Miller.
Mr. Vanderbeck said the woman had lived in the apartment above the Pretty Nails salon since April 2006. The landlord described Ms. Giordano as a "caring, loving mother."
"The idea of her abandoning her child is almost out of the realm," he said.
"This doesn’t add up," he added.
Mr. Vanderbeck said Ms. Giordano notified him about two months ago that she wanted to get out of her two-year lease early in order to move to Twin Rivers. He agreed and began showing the apartment to prospective tenants. But he received a phone message from Mr. DiGirolamo on June 8, the day before the baby was found in Delaware, asking that he not show the apartment for a few days because Ms. DiGirolamo was sick.
Mr. Vanderbeck said he last saw Ms. Giordano June 2 at his Slowdown Café, next door to her apartment and where she regularly sat outside and talked on her cellphone, always with her baby at her side. The last time he heard from her was June 6, when she called him on the phone.
On June 11, an employee at the café thought he recognized the baby from a photo on television and told Mr. Vanderbeck, who eventually went online and agreed. That prompted him to try to reach the mother and father. When he couldn’t, he went inside the apartment and saw all the child’s belongings and medicines.
"At that point, I knew the police needed to be involved," he said.
He called local police June 14. Detective Miller said it was that call that resulted in police realizing that she was the abandoned baby’s mother. Since then, he said, the local police department is working with Delaware State Police.
"We’re actively investigating this as a missing persons case," he said.
Ms. Giordano is described as 5 feet tall, 135 pounds and possibly wearing glasses. She is either 25 or 27 years old. A description of Mr. DiGirolamo was not available at press time.
Anyone with information was being urged to call Detective Miller at 609-448-1234, Delaware State Police at 302-834-2620 or the Delaware Division of Family Services at 1-800-292-9582.

