Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Cops identify mother of abandoned babies
Investigators have identified the biological mother of three newborn babies who were found abandoned at apartment complexes in Orlando and Orange County since 2016, officials announced at Orlando Police Department Headquarters on Wednesday.
Police, who had previously used DNA testing to confirm the babies were siblings, located the children’s mother through subsequent testing late last year, OPD Lt. Frank Chisari told reporters Wednesday morning.
According to police, the mother has several other children in her care.
Her first abandoned newborn, a baby boy, was found outside of a MetroWest apartment in 2016. Residents discovered the second baby, a girl, wrapped in a T-shirt and left in a stairwell at Willow Key Apartments, on Arnold Palmer Drive, a year later. The mother left a note expressing fear for the child’s safety.
Her third, a 1-day-old boy, was also found at Willow Key Apartments with a similar note in July 2019, prompting investigators to connect the three cases. They partnered with United Data Connect, a genealogy company, to locate the children’s parents.
OPD is working closely with the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office to determine what criminal charges may be filed against the mother, Chisari said, and the woman is cooperating with investigators. The father’s identity and role in the children’s abandonment is still under investigation.
Chisari added that the mother’s other children are well cared-for.
Their DNA has not been tested, so it is unclear if these children share the same father as the three abandoned.
Chisari didn’t name the mother but said it appeared she had abandoned the children out of “pure desperation.”
“It seems like somebody who was just at the end of their rope,” he said.
She learned she was pregnant at a late stage during all three pregnancies, Chisari said, then kept it a secret and delivered the children in private.
“I guess she watched a lot of YouTube videos,” he said, describing how the children were delivered discreetly.
For parents in crisis, Chisari emphasized that there are safer, legal avenues for surrendering children.
Under the Safe Haven Law, parents can leave a newborn child at a medical facility or fire station with no risk of criminal prosecution.
“What we’re trying to do here is educate people so that they don’t make the same decisions and mistakes that this mother made,” Chisari said.
Though the chances of a positive resolution for the abandoned children were slim, Chisari said all three are now in good care. Two are currently living in the same home — one adopted and another under foster care. The third child is living in a separate house.
Chisari read a letter written by the adoptive mother of one of the children.
“We had often wondered about the mother of our kids, and I pray for her safety and well being,” she wrote. “Because of her, we were able to build our family.”