New York police said Monday that there has been a break in the 22-year-old case of ‘Baby Hope,’ a toddler who was found dead in a cooler. Officials believe that they have identified the child’s mother, thanks to DNA evidence.
Police decided to make another push this past summer to find information on the case and at the time, they did get one tip from a woman who thought she might know Baby Hope’s sister, reports The New York Times. Thanks to her information, they began doing interviews, which eventually lead them on a trail to Baby Hope’s mother. A law enforcement source told the Times that police used scientific evidence to confirm that the identity of the mother.
Law enforcement sources for NBC 4 New York said that the mother never reported Baby Hope missing because she lived in fear of the father. She thought that he may have had something to do with Baby Hope’s death and was too afraid to call the police.
Baby Hope was found along the Henry Hudson Parkway on July 23, 1991 and it is thought that she was between 3 and 5 years old. Police believed the cooler was put there between July 13, 1991 and July 22, 1991. No family members ever reported her missing. Tests showed that she was sexually abused and malnourished.
This summer, police began a new effort to get information on the case, offering a $12,000 reward. The tip that lead to finding her mother came in through Crime Stoppers in July.