Schenectady baby dies
Missing infant was found near GE site, criminal investigation underway
SCHENECTADY — A case that started with police receiving a report of a missing baby late Saturday night ended with the nearly 11month-old found around the General Electric campus. Police confirmed a few hours later she had died.
Before Halo R. Branton was found, police asked people on Campbell Avenue to look at camera surveillance footage from Saturday night to see if they caught a glimpse of a woman in dark clothing carrying what looked to be a baby wrapped in a blanket.
But police provided no other information Sunday about what led to the baby girl being found in an area that transitions from being wooded to industrial — only saying that there is a criminal investigation under way.
Speaking in front of city police headquarters, Lt. Ryan Macherone, the department’s public information officer, said a team of officers found the girl in an area between Hillhurst Park and the General Electric campus Sunday afternoon. She was rushed to Ellis Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Macherone said the disappearance and death involved the youngest victim he could recall in recent memory.
An Amber Alert was issued at 10:10 a.m. Sunday after police said she was missing from a residence at 12th Street and Campbell Avenue since around 9 p.m. Saturday.
At 12:36 p.m. the alert was canceled. A source close to the investigation said the baby was found in a shed on the General Electric property.
State Police initially posted on Facebook that she was found “safe and in good health,” but quickly deleted the post to just say the baby was located. The original post was still up at 4:30 p.m.
on the State Police Instagram account despite city police confirming she had died. The Instagram post had been corrected by 6 p.m. Sunday.
Macherone said he was unaware of the State Police’s inaccurate report on the baby’s condition. “We’ve been putting out information on our Facebook page throughout the day today,” he said.
“There was a miscommunication when the child was initially located,” New York State Police public information officer Stephanie O’neil said in an email. “Once more definitive information became available, I updated the post. As you can imagine we were all hopeful for a more positive outcome.”
Macherone said police were initially alerted at around 11 p.m. Saturday to a possible missing infant in the area around the GE campus. He said that the decision to issue an Amber Alert nearly 12 hours after the infant was reported missing was because of “other components of the investigation that we were looking into throughout that time.”
“The decision was made this morning to then go forward with the Amber Alert as well based on where the investigation was,” Macherone said.
Macherone declined to answer questions about the girl’s parents or caretakers. “We are interviewing multiple individuals at this time,” he said. “It’s early in the investigation but we have lots of individuals.”
No arrests had been made as of Sunday evening and no suspects had been identified.
Macherone said he did not know who had last seen the infant or if she was from Schenectady. He said a call was placed to police alerting them to her disappearance.
Police had been searching a wooded slope behind Hillhurst Park shortly before the alert was canceled at 12:36 p.m. Sunday, and police provided a short update. The slope overlooks the GE campus.
“(The baby) was located during a search conducted by multiple agencies in the area of the General Electric campus and she was transported to the hospital,” police said in a statement around 1:30 p.m. Sunday. “At this time, we do not have an update on (her) condition. An investigation is being conducted and we will provide updates as they become available.”
Schenectady police put a QR code on the department’s Facebook page for neighbors to easily access the link to download camera footage.
A woman who said she was a cousin of the baby’s father said that the infant and her mother had been living in a city homeless shelter. She said that Halo’s father, who she declined to name, had been fighting for custody.
“He’s grieving, my family’s grieving,” she said outside the city police department headquarters shortly after the Sunday news conference.
“She was beautiful, she was charming, she was very intelligent,” she said. “She looked just like her father.”
A host of police and public safety organizations assisted with the search including the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office, Albany County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Forest Rangers, New York State Fire and the Schenectady Fire Department assisted, police said.
Security from the nearby General Electric plant also were involved, police said.
A search helicopter operated by the New York State Police was seen flying over the area Sunday morning.