Infants' remains are decades old (Brownwood, Texas)

Associated Press ^ | November 16, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Infants' remains are decades old

04:28 PM CST on Saturday, November 15, 2003

Associated Press

AUSTIN – The three infants whose remains were found in a Brownwood home's attic likely have been dead for more than 30 years, the Travis County Medical Examiner's office said.

Deena Roberts found a bag containing the infants on Oct. 23 in the home she and her husband bought in July 2000. The bag was hidden in the second-floor crawl space of the home, which was built in 1987.

A preliminary report submitted Friday by forensic anthropologist Dr. Harrell Gill-King suggests the bodies are decades old, Travis County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Bayardo said.

The remains of one of the newborn infants was mummified, while the other two were largely skeletal, Bayardo said. The mummified infant may have been born later than the other two, he said.

Bayardo said DNA testing, which will help investigators determine the infants' gender and identity, continues. Relatives of the home's previous owners have agreed to submit DNA samples for testing.

According to Brown County records, the property was owned by Joe D. Hopkins from 1987-88. It was then held by the Veterans Land Board from 1988-92 and purchased by James Edward Bowling in 1992. Bowling died in 1999, and his wife died in 2000, so the home was sold by the estate.

Investigators have not been able to determine why the infants died.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/111603dntexatticbodies.88a97.html

[ChemistCat]

I would be very surprised if they COULD find out how these babies died. Unless they were poisoned or had some metabolic problem that showed in their bones.....

I will also be amazed if they find the mother(s) of the babies. Talk about a trail gone cold.

God knows who they are. That may have to be enough.

[CindyDawg]

Strange that the babies may be older than the house though. If true then that means they were kept somewhere else first.

[MeekOneGOP]

I hope are able to find the creeps that did this, but you may be right.

Sigh ...

[Lady Jag]

What did Bowling and Hopkins do for a living? Doctors, scientists, educators? But then, why would the babies' bodies be so well hidden without apparent documentation. Did one of them have a loony wife who needed to keep her dead kids with her?

[BBell]

I remember when the infants were discovered and I read it here. Thanks for the update.

[wimpycat]

Relatives of the home's previous owners have agreed to submit DNA samples for testing.

That will be a tremendous help in finding the mother and/or the father.

[wimpycat]

Did one of them have a loony wife who needed to keep her dead kids with her?

That was the first possibility that occurred to me.

[wimpycat]

If the DNA tests rule out the owners of the house, the next step would be to track down the contractor who built the house, and then track down those who actually built the house. Some construction worker may have put them there. Of course, tracking down the contractor and construction workers would probably be next to impossible.

[ChemistCat]

It may not be murder. There is surely a sad story connected with it, one way or the other.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

weird-story ping...

[CindyDawg]

Someone seeing the house going up could have hid them there too but either way they would have had to have been moved from somewhere else. My husband and I own some propery in Lake Brownwood and will eventually "semi" retire there. I don't know about 16 years ago but now there are a lot of visitors . It's a very popular area for hunters, and church retreats. There is also a really nice state park and a girl scout camp in the area too.

[CindyDawg]

I was wondering if the house could have been on an old small grave site but why would they end up in an attic?

[Lady Jag]

A little more info from a couple weeks ago:

Ex-homeowners queried in mummified babies case

Records being checked, but official says DNA may be key to the mystery.

07:26 AM CST on Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Associated Press

BROWNWOOD, Texas – Authorities trying to learn the identities of three babies whose mummified remains were found in an attic were talking to previous homeowners and searching their tax records for clues, investigators said Monday.

Authorities also were looking at school and hospital records, but it likely will take DNA testing to solve the mystery, said Brown County chief sheriff's Deputy Mike McCoy. There are no missing babies in the area, he said.

"We don't know if they died there or if somebody who moved there brought the bag from another town," he said Monday. "We have no idea what race, what sex, what age the babies were or how long they've been there."

The owners called police Thursday and said they were renovating the house when they found a trash bag containing what they thought was one body, Deputy McCoy said. They have denied any involvement but are being investigated along with previous owners, he said.

"We won't really call anybody a suspect because we don't know what kind of crime we actually have," Deputy McCoy said.

The owners allowed investigators to search the house two more times and agreed to give DNA samples, Deputy McCoy said.

The remains were taken to the Travis County medical examiner's office, where workers discovered two more bodies in the trash bag.

An anthropologist has been called to help determine their ages and when and how they died, Deputy McCoy said.

He refused to release the address or owners' names but said the family had lived in the house about three years. The dwelling in the southwest part of the county was built in the 1980s and was vacant for only a brief period, Deputy McCoy said, refusing to say how many people have owned it.

One baby appeared to be 2 months to 4 months old, and the other two were slightly smaller, he said.

One was wrapped in a sheet, one in a blanket and one in a towel; all were in separate bags inside the trash bag, he said.

[ChemistCat]

There are some strange people out there. Not all of them are malicious when they do inexplicable things. Maybe this is a case of body stealing, or...someone who worked at a morgue doing something odd with bodies for whatever reason. Babies die of natural causes, and I can imagine someone not wanting to get the state/a business involved. I don't know. Obviously the least hypothesis is murder.

[CindyDawg]

Well, the DNA should tell if the babies related and that should narrow it down. If they are siblings, a crime may have been committed but if they are a lot older than 30 years they all may have died natural causes, but why move them? Sounds like a case for Quincy, huh? :')

[Lady Jag]

They don't seem to be related.

He refused to release the address or owners' names but said the family had lived in the house about three years. The dwelling in the southwest part of the county was built in the 1980s and was vacant for only a brief period, Deputy McCoy said, refusing to say how many people have owned it.

One baby appeared to be 2 months to 4 months old, and the other two were slightly smaller, he said.

From post #14

[CindyDawg]

I'm not saying that a crime wasn't committed but you could be looking at still borns or early infant death and they all could be related.

[Lady Jag]

They don't seem to be related. Click the post # below.

[Lady Jag]

Actually, you're right; what was I thinking? They could all have died within months of each other yet the bodies could be different ages and, therefore making it possible they're related.