Baby found dead at waste plant laid to rest
SAN JOSE >> A baby boy found dead at a San Jose garbage collection facility 10 months ago was laid to rest Wednesday morning in a ceremony arranged by a nonprofit organization.
About two dozen people attended the hourlong ceremony at the Los Gatos Memorial Park for the infant only known as Baby Boy Doe. Among the mourners was a paramedic who responded to the emergency call when the baby was found.
“It just breaks my heart,” said David Reitdorf after the nondenominational burial service.
Little is known about Baby Boy Doe other than that he was found at GreenWaste Recovery at 625 Charles St. about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 25. He was reportedly a newborn.
Reitdorf said he and his paramedic unit arrived at the facility and was told workers found the baby on a conveyor belt. He and his co-workers pronounced the baby dead. The call hit Reitdorf particularly hard because he is a father.
Wednesday’s service was the latest for Little Treasures, a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 to bury the babies who go abandoned or unclaimed at the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.
“They contacted us and invited us here today to be part of the ceremony, and we’re really glad we did because it’s kind of full circle for us,” Reitdorf said, adding he appreciates Little Treasures for showing such respect to the unknown children and arranging to lay them to rest.
Earlier this week, Virginia Jones, president and co-founder of the nonprofit group, explained she would pick up Baby Boy Doe’s body from the mortuary. He then would be wrapped in a receiving blanket if possible, placed in a tiny casket with a stuffed animal.
An update on the San Jose Police Department’s investigation was not immediately available.
Little Treasures has buried more than 50 babies since Jones, a supervisor with American Medical Response Inc., founded the organization with three other first responders.
“It’s important because it allows us as a community to be there for these babies in a way that their families couldn’t be,” Jones said. “And whatever circumstances the family was going through at the time is something that we don’t judge. It’s just something that we’re able to do, and we’re very blessed that we’re able to do that for them.”
Jones said the organization is funded solely through donations, from the receiving blankets to the burial plots. Volunteers help maintain the gravesites and fresh flowers are delivered monthly.
The coronavirus pandemic pushed back Baby Boy Doe’s burial, which otherwise would have taken place in February or March, Jones said.