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Posted on 07/18/2025 5:24:53 AM PDT by Morgana
FRANKLIN — A cold case from 1994 that captured national attention was the focus of a significant update from Franklin Police on Monday.
The press conference took place at the gravesite of the infant known as Baby Hope, located in Greenlawn Cemetery, marking the first major update on the murder case in several years.
On April 13, 1994, two boys searching through a trash can in Temple Park in Franklin for aluminum cans stumbled upon the body of a newborn infant.
The preliminary investigation revealed that the baby had been stabbed to death shortly after her birth. The discovery shocked the Franklin community and raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the infant's death.
Franklin Police announced that after 31 years, they had identified the baby’s biological parents. The mother was identified as Cheryl Dawn Larson, and the father is Paul Shepherd, who cooperated with investigators.
During the investigation, Shepherd was given the opportunity to name the baby, choosing to name her Hope Shepherd.
He issued the following statement:
Paul Shepherd was shocked and grieved to learn that the child known as Hope was his child. Mr. Shepherd was completely unaware that a woman with whom he had a brief relationship was pregnant with his or anyone's child. He first became aware that the child was his after voluntarily providing a DNA sample to police. The shock of this revelation was overwhelming and continues to be so still today.
Mr. Shepherd continues to struggle with the grief which has exacerbated his health conditions and from which he can find no relief. The very thought that a child fathered by him was subjected to such evil is one he cannot escape from.
(Excerpt) Read more at wrtv.com ...
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Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Yes.
Where was this - no state named and what was the sequence? The identification was JUST NOW made or it is just now being revealed? When did the biological father learn about it? Had to be long ago if he suffers health problems from the tragedy of it and was able to give the baby a name. Badly written but what isn’t?
Gear up when clicking on any article to be thoroughly puzzled as to who/what/where/when/why.
Indiana? The TV station that the story is from has a link on the page to Indianapolis Local News.
Franklin, IN. SE of Indianapolis and NW of Columbus.
Is Franklin in the US?
Is Franklin in the US?
So it has been said.
Thank you. Do you know the answers to the questions I had? Strange story without more detail.
“Is Franklin in the US?
So it has been said.”
LOL I love you guys!
Thank you. Do you know the answers to the questions I had? Strange story without more detail.
Short answer.
Woman is married but is pregnant by another man.
Woman has baby and leaves it in trash can where kids looking for pop cans to sell for cash find.
this was 31 years ago.
DNA technology caught up with this woman and the real father.
This story happened in Franklin, Indiana
Franklin is the county seat of Johnson County, Indiana; just south of Indianapolis.
I got that much out of the article itself. No questions were answered as to the sequence of events - when the biological father knew - when he named the baby etc. etc. And what happens to the woman?
The bio father found out after the DNA results came back. Yep you guess it, Maury came out and said “you ARE the father!”
Up until that time he did not know. For 31 years he never knew she was pregnant and had given birth to his child and left it in the trash can. Then again nor did the woman’s husband.
No one knew anything about the baby except the mother and God.
Mom is going to have charges brought forward. I’ll keep up on this and post what happens.
After 31 years he probably didn’t even have any memory of her if she was a one time fling.
Too many questions - how/when did they ID the mother? Please do check in and let us know....
What a heartbreaking story. Sweet, innocent baby girl murdered shortly after birth. Biological dad never knew he had a daughter, and biological mom died in 2018 without meeting (earthly) justice. I can understand the biological dad’s pain and anguish, finding out all these years later that his little girl was murdered. So sad.
Thank you. Do you know the answers to the questions I had? Strange story without more detail.
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Google Search can by your friend - search BABY HOPE FRANKLIN INDIANA and you will find several links to more on the case
The mother died years ago. It’s in the story.
Boy - I’m getting paranoid about what I find by googling...You may notice on a thread this morning about a video with JD Vance and a judge going at it in a courtroom with the FBI showing up and arresting the judge. AS IF THAT WOULD EVER HAPPEN - it’s circulating with varying pictures etc.
Thanks - I’ll check this out.
Don’t you have to read Google results? C’mon Man! LOL
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