Travis County Sheriff’s Office looking for mother in dead newborn case

Search for mother after body of newborn discovered in shallow grave

Officials say a fisherman, who was in the area, accidentally discovered the infant's body which was located in a shallow grave.

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas - An investigation into the death of a newborn girl in southern Travis County has turned into a search for her mother.

On August 24th a fisherman walking along the brush off old San Antonio road in southern Travis County discovered a newborn baby buried in a shallow grave.

"It does look hand dug based on some of the roots and other things," said Detective Ben Wright with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

This week, the TCSO asked the public for help in tracking down the child’s mother as there are still too many unanswered questions.

"There is a lot of possibilities in this particular case. This could be an abused mother, this could be hiding a crime, this could be an unwanted pregnancy, this could be a young child who had this pregnancy that hid this baby from other people in the community. We don’t know there could be a whole lot of possibilities that this could be," said Wright.

The sheriff's office had investigated nearby neighborhoods and homeless encampments, and even tested two women from those camps.

"We have interviewed and received DNA samples from those two females," Wright said. "They both denied being the mother at this time so we are waiting for DNA returns to come back."

The FBI is also assisting. It is investigating the plastic which was found wrapped around the newborn.

"We are still waiting on information from the medical examiner's office that will give us stuff like race," said Wright.

In the meantime, the sheriff’s office has chosen to name the child Ivy, after the vegetation she was found in.

"We found it certainly wasn’t given a whole lot of love and care and so therefore we felt like it needed that and giving it a name was the first step and that’s the first step and most children’s lives is to be named. It also gives us some ownership to this case the Travis County Sheriff’s Office is very dedicated into trying to figure this out," said Wright.

If you have any information regarding this case you're asked to contact the TCSO tip line at 512-854-1444.

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