COLD CASE

Suspect Arrested in 1990 Infant Homicide Thanks to Genealogy Website

The infant’s father was found through DNA submitted to a genealogy website.

South Carolina police announced Thursday that they’ve made an arrest in a infant homicide case from 1990 due to DNA submitted to a genealogy website. The infant, named Julie Valentine because of her discovery on February 13, 1990, is thought to have been abandoned by her mother. “The person who discovered the infant in the box, deceased... was a gentleman who was picking flowers for his wife for Valentine's Day,” said Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller. “... The baby was driven to a field, not far from where the mother lived, and was discarded along with a pile of other debris that was located in the field.” An autopsy revealed that the infant was breathing outside the womb before her death, and so it was determined a homicide by neglect. Police have arrested Brooke Graham, 53, for the alleged murder.

DNA results provided through a genealogy website determined the baby's father. The father, who still lives in Greenville, told police that Graham had to be the baby’s mother. He said he hasn’t seen Graham in nearly a decade. “You cannot leave a kid like that,” the father said. “I feel sorry for her. I’m not hating her... I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what happened. We’ve been disconnected for so long.” The case is still active, and police have yet to determine if the father was ever aware the child was born, Chief Miller said.

KARMA

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