Baby likely drifted north from Broward
Days-old infant now called ‘Baby June’ was found in Boynton Inlet.
WEST PALM BEACH — It’s “very likely” the infant authorities now are calling “Baby June” floated up from Broward County before she was found dead near the Boynton Inlet on the first day of June, investigators said Thursday.
“We now believe it’s possible the child might have drifted up from as far as Broward County,” Capt. Steven Strivelli said at an afternoon news briefing. Later, pressed by reporters, he changed that to “probable,” and later, “very likely.”
“June” was four to seven days old, was probably black, Hispanic or of mixed race, and had been in the water six to 18 hours when she was found Friday afternoon by an off-duty Boynton Beach firefighter, Strivelli said.
He said he’d tell the child’s parents, “We desperately need to talk to you. We need to know what happened.”
Strivelli said the Broward theory was “scientifically based” but would not elaborate. He said PBSO is working with its counterparts at the Broward County Sheriff ’s Office as well as other agencies.
He said PBSO has received “numerous” tips — he wouldn’t be more specific — but “nothing that’s panned out.” Nearly all those tips are from Palm Beach County, but deputies want to get the word out to Broward, he said.
Strivelli would not say whether the Medical Examiner has determined the cause of death or if investigators believe “June” was dead before she went into the water.
The Florida Department of Children and Families said this week that the child probably was born around Memorial Day and likely in a hospital.
DCF said an investigator determined that because of a prick on the baby girl’s heel.
Strivelli said Thursday it’s still possible the child was born outside a hospital and got the mark on her foot from a later visit to a doctor. He also said investigators haven’t ruled out that the baby came off a migrant boat.
The sheriff ’s office will not confirm that it is contacting area hospitals for lists of people who had babies in the last two weeks. A spokeswoman at Boynton Beach’s Bethesda Memorial Hospital East, the closest to the inlet, would say only that the hospital was “cooperating with authorities.”
A spokesman for Tenet Healthcare — which owns 10 South Florida hospitals, five of them in Palm Beach County — would not say whether it has turned over to authorities a list of births.
A search such as this would be laborious just for Palm Beach County; a spokesman for the Palm Beach County Health Department said Thursday it records 15,000 births a year.
Miami-based WSVN-TV Channel 7 reported Thursday it knew of at least one person who recently had a baby who got a visit Thursday from a Broward sheriff ’s deputy.
The Boynton Beach firefighter found the infant while he was out fishing Friday afternoon. The baby girl was floating about 75 feet offshore and just north of the inlet.
Local and state authorities said the child was naked but appeared to be at a healthy weight and showed no clear signs of trauma. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office said its investigation into the cause of her death could take weeks.
Anyone with information is asked to call PBSO Detective Clifton Hamilton at (561) 688-4155.