Hermitage police issue plea, announce DNA probe in 50-year mystery of newborn's remains

Hermitage police believe they can identify the parents of a newborn girl whose remains were found 50 years ago near a dirt road in Mercer County.

They’re also asking the person who left the baby off Lynnwood Drive all those years ago to come forward and explain what motivated that act.

In a message and video released to media and posted on the police department’s Facebook page Tuesday, Deputy Police Chief Joel Ristvey said investigators believe recent developments in DNA technology will allow them to determine the infant’s mother and father.

The baby, who was white, had been born less than a week prior to being discovered. Ristvey said it had received medical care consistent with that provided in a hospital.

The baby’s remains were found on July 2, 1970, at the Taylor Sand Banks parking area near Swamp Road — now Broadway Avenue — northeast of Youngstown, Ohio.

Ristvey said police would “like to speak from the heart to the person who laid the baby down. … The DNA will tell us who placed the baby there that day. But … it won’t tell us why.

“It won’t tell us the emotions you must have struggled with that day; the pain you must have experienced. It won’t tell us why you initially rendered care but then couldn’t care for her any longer.”

Ristvey asked the person involved to contact him at 724-983-6782, ext. 3, about the cold case.

“I want to give you this opportunity to come talk to me, to give you the chance to explain to your family and friends before the DNA results come back,” he said in the message. “Only you can help your loved ones understand.”

Ristvey said in an interview with the Tribune-Review that police couldn’t release any further details about the DNA evidence or what motivated investigators to issue the plea to the mother of the newborn to “help us understand.”