UPPER FREEHOLD: TV show sheds new light on ‘Baby Bones’ case

by Geoffrey Wertime, The Packet Group
   UPPER FREEHOLD — Just over four years ago, a hunter traipsing through Clayton Park in the morning made a startling discovery: a child’s charred remains.
   Today, the girl, who investigators have dubbed “Baby Bones,” still is unidentified, but the case now has drawn national attention after appearing on the popular television show, “America’s Most Wanted,” last month.
   And the show, which brought in a sculptor to recreate the child’s image, has prompted about new 100 tips on who the child might have been.
   ”We actually went to them,” said New Jersey State Police Detective Steve Urbanski, who is in charge of the case. “I sat down with the producer and explained the story that we had. They said they’d see what they could do for us, and we got what I considered the gold package — a whole entire show based on our case.”
   That case, unfortunately, has a lot of unanswered questions. Police believe the body is that of an African-American girl, who was killed and burned between 2001 and 2004. It couldn’t have been any later than 2004 because it takes about a year for bodies to decompose into skeletons.
   The child’s body was left at the edge of the park, near the road, which Detective Urbanski said could mean whoever left it was not from the area and did not realize there were more secluded parts nearby in the woods. But he said other things could have kept the person on the outskirts, including thick brush in the summer.
   Investigators at the time also discovered a child’s 8½-size shoe, which “America’s Most Wanted” reported was on the market in early 2001, and part of a handbag featuring a picture of the cartoon character Sylvester the Cat.
   Detective Urbanski, who took over the case about a year ago, said the shoe size and the theories of experts on bones and teeth suggest different ages for the girl, and she could have been anywhere from 3 to 9. He said officials can’t even be certain if only one child was killed though that is the prevailing belief.
   No child matching this description has been reported missing in the area, and Detective Urbanski said the sheer number of children who have moved out of local school districts and neighborhoods and the many children reported missing make it impossible to check on each one of them.
   ”I never realized how many missing children there were until this case,” he said. “It’s not very common to have a missing child like this who hasn’t been identified” since most cases involve children reported missing who have not been found.
   ”If we’re not able to find any reported missing children, we can only assume it was a family member” who committed the crime but wouldn’t have reported it, he said.
   ”We really have no more clues,” he said. “This is a hard case, a very hard case.”
   Fortunately, “America’s Most Wanted” brought on Philadelphia-based sculptor Frank Bender. Mr. Bender sculpts people, including re-creations of how murder victims may have looked while they were alive. His work on a bust of an older version of murderer John List and its subsequent airing on the TV show led to Mr. List’s arrest in 1989.
   State police lent Mr. Bender the child’s skull, and with it he created a bust of how the child might have looked in the hopes someone will recognize her.
   ”We were kind of excited (Mr. Bender) was doing it; he has a high success rate,” Detective Urbanski said. “He’s an extraordinary man.”
   The case’s TV appearance has drawn a great deal of interest to the cause. Detective Urbanski said since the episode first aired March 14, state police have received about 100 tips on who the child might be and are investigating those leads.
   Just last week, police in Richmond, Va., contacted New Jersey State Police about another possible connection, and DNA testing is pending.
   DNA can be extracted from inside the bones, Detective Urbanski explained, and for this case, police are employing the topnotch lab at the University of North Texas. However, it will take about four to six months to get the results back, he said.
   For now, he added, police have to collect DNA of these possible matches, which can be difficult if a child had no DNA on file. In those cases, police turn to relatives to get a genetic profile to which they can compare the girl found in Upper Freehold.
   ”Or it could be nobody reported this child missing, and we’re looking for somebody to put it together. Maybe a neighbor or family member noticed a child went missing abruptly,” Detective Urbanski said.
   He said the producers of “America’s Most Wanted” have expressed interest in airing an update in the summer if the case is still open. 
    Anyone with information should call the New Jersey State Police Hamilton barracks at 609-584-5000.