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RCMP investigated the discovery of the body of a newborn baby found on an acreage northwest of Edmonton.

The Stony Plain detachment was notified at 6:57 a.m. on April 16th, 2008 by a man walking his dog on a quad trail near Range Road 14 just north of the Yellowhead Highway.

Investigators said they believed the newborn was placed at the site just shortly before its discovery on a lightly-wooded vacant lot in the Silver Sands Estates subdivision about ten kilometres northwest of Stony Plain.

The gender, age and cause of the baby's death had yet to be determined by an autopsy.

RCMP set up a roadblock and interviewed passing motorists.

While RCMP initially treated the case as a suspicious death, forensic staff nevertheless processed the area thoroughly.

Speaking to media at the scene, RCMP Cpl. Wayne A. Oakes said that the baby came to the area quite recently.

"Perhaps within the last 24 to 48 hours ... or perhaps a few days at the longest," Oakes said.

"The primary focus of investigators is to find out who the mother of this child is.

"As you can see, there's been a lot of traffic through there ... and part of their role will be to determine what evidence is actually germane to the investigation.

"As it stands right now, investigators aren't being judgmental," Oakes continued. "Their primary focus is to determine who the mother of this child is, and to determine the circumstances that led to this."

The man who found the lifeless infant lived across from the undeveloped lot. He waived off media requests for an interview.

"I've asked that you don't go in and bother my wife," he said.

Subdivision residents walking by were surprised to see police activity in an area popular with nature lovers.

"It looks like wilderness, but it's not. This is our community park ... everybody uses it," said Sonja Irvine. "I've been here for nine years and I've never even seen a cop drive down the road."

"Everyone knows everyone," she said. "If it's a neighbourhood child, I would know who it is."

Long-time resident Bernadine Gilbert-McAdie also spoke of the character of the community.

"It's a family neighbourhood, and we all know our neighbours," she said.

The woman felt a local person wasn't responsible for leaving a baby in the woods. "They'd be crazy to drop something off this close to home, wouldn't they?"

"I work at the hospital. It's too bad these people just don't drop it off at the hospital. There are so many people who want to adopt children," she added.

Gilbert-McAdie said her dog Sadie had been acting up in the last several days. "If only she could talk," she mused.

Sadie had been snooping around the north end of her acreage, an area the dog never goes to.

"She'll bark if she hears anything unusual or sees strangers."

Gilbert-McAdie said she didn't notice anything or anyone unusual either in recent days.

Late on April 17th RCMP released results of the post mortem examination.

The baby was male and was close to full term. There were no obvious signs of trauma and a cause of death has not yet been determined. Also not determined by the medical examiner was the race of the infant.

Police revealed the body was discovered wrapped in a pink towel.

A larger image of the towel can be seen here.

Investigators also stated the body was placed some time after 7:00 am on April 14th, 2008.

On April 18th RCMP announced they had identified "a female person of interest" in connection with the case.

It was later revealed investigators had spoken to the woman but would not say whether she was the mother of the child.

On May 23rd, 2008 RCMP announced they had charged two 17-year-old females in connection with the body found.

One was charged with concealing the body of a child, while the other was charged with failing to obtain medical assistance during childbirth and concealing the body of a child.

Under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act the names of the accused can not be released.

Both youths were released from custody and were scheduled to appear in Stony Plain Provincial Court on June 6th, 2008.

Despite the development, police were still requesting the public's assistance in the investigation.

“As in any investigation, we have to keep an open mind,” RCMP Cpl. Wayne A. Oakes told media.

“All that we’re doing by keeping that request is affording anyone who may have information concerning this to come forward.

“We just want to make sure that we are as thorough and diligent as possible.”

Those with information were asked to contact Stony Plain RCMP at 780-968-7200, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com

Tips can also be text messaged. In Edmonton, text TIP250 + message and send to CRIMES (274637). In Northern Alberta, text TIP205 + message and send to CRIMES (274637).

Oakes revealed little else about what took place during the month-long investigation by the Stony Plain RCMP General Investigation Section.

"Any kind of an investigation the involves a child generally can present a few more challenges and this was probably one that was not exceptional in that regard," he said.

Oakes did confirm that the women charged were both known to each other and were from the Stony Plain area.

He could not say for certain if one of the women was the mother of the baby, although that appears to be the case, he said.

“When it comes right down to it, factually, we cannot definitively say 'Yes' at this point,” Oakes said. “There are some factors in the investigation that still have to be finished off before we can definitively say that.”

At the time of the discovery of the newborn near Stony Plain, the most recent area case involving an infant took place in Edmonton on March 19th, 2008 when a man discovered a baby wrapped in grocery bags under a bed in a basement suite. A 20-year-old woman was charged with committing an indignity to a dead human body, neglecting to obtain assistance in childbirth and concealing the body of a child.

The area where the infant's body was found was about a kilometre north of the scene where a man was found dead on May 20th, 2007.

19-year-old Mahamud Yassin Yusuf's body was discovered on Beachcomber Road in the Bridgewater Estates area. The man's body may have been dumped there up to two months before being spotted in what was widely believed to be a gang-related execution.

Outtakes

During the course of story coverage, many images are recorded but not all are published. Some are redundant, some are of less than optimal quality and some do not fit editorial context.

For the interest of readers, these "outtakes" can be viewed here. Note: not all images have been reduced in file size – page may be slow in loading.

deadmonton 2008 - other police matters - the stony plain baby