Mummified baby haunts police

[auntAgonist]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/02/btsc.candiotti/index.html

DELRAY BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- The face of a partially mummified baby boy, wrapped in newspaper since 1957, is haunting -- chilling even. Imagine the shock when a suitcase was opened two weeks ago in a storage locker by a woman in Florida, and there it was, a mummified corpse with his umbilical cord still attached.

Investigators showed me photos of the remains. The boy is curled in a fetal position, with light-colored curly hair covering his head. The remains measure just under a foot and weigh only 13 ounces.

"You can see the actual facial features. You can see the eyes. The slit for the mouth ... and also portions of the fingers and toes," said lead Detective Gene Sapino of the Delray Beach Homicide Division. "At first, I wasn't convinced it was a child -- until I saw the face. ... It's obviously emotional because that's a child."

I was also shown the contents found with the child, which was stuffed in a decal-covered suitcase, crammed into an even larger piece of luggage. Inside that suitcase, there was an intriguing black-and-white photograph of a little girl probably not yet 10 years old. Near the photo, there was a small striped box, and inside, a silver, thimble-sized container holding a tiny rosary. There were two religious cards.