DNA analysis and surveillance footage were among the tools used to identify a mother accused of leaving a dead infant at a park in New Bedford, Massachusetts, last year. On Dec. 9, New Bedford police responded to Fort Taber Park at about 12:40 p.m. after receiving a 911 call about the discovery of a dead infant.Officers who went to the park learned that a woman was walking along a path near the water with her pre-teen niece when she spotted a blanket near a thicket of bushes adjacent to the walking path. The woman also smelled an odor of decay.The woman approached the blanket and found a white plastic bag wrapped inside of it, and the decomposing body of an infant was found inside of that bag, according to police.When the woman made the disturbing discovery, she immediately yelled out to two men who were walking their dog nearby and one of those men called 911.Video below: 2023 report about grim discoveryInvestigators subsequently determined that the baby, a boy, was left in the area on Nov. 6, meaning the body was there for more than a month before being discovered, according to a statement from Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn’s office. “Due to the state of decomposition the infant was found in, the medical examiner was unable to determine if the baby had been alive prior to the alleged dumping of the infant in the park. No cause and manner of death could be determined,” Quinn’s statement said. Daniela Michell Escobar-Mejia, 22, of New Bedford, was arraigned on a charge of improper disposal of a body in connection with the case. Quinn’s office said she was determined to be the boy’s mother through the use of DNA testing.

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