Meriden police joined forces with an organization to use DNA to help find the mother of a baby who died after being abandoned in 1988.
Meriden police held a memorial service Tuesday for Baby David Paul, an infant found dead after being abandoned in a parking lot in January 1988.
The ceremony at Walnut Grove Cemetery was held to mark the 33rd year since the tragedy, and the first time police held the vigil since solving the mystery of who abandoned him.
While working to close the case for decades, police have honored the baby -- naming him David Paul -- because, they said David means “God’s Beloved” and Paul means “Little Man."
A local resident donated a burial plot and police have held annual memorial services for the infant, vowing never to forget him.
The child was found frozen to death in a parking lot on Evansville Avenue in South Meriden on Jan. 2, 1988.
It wasn't until 2011 that detectives were able to use DNA from the case to begin the process of linking someone to the baby.
Police started working with a national organization that specializes in genetic DNA testing to try and identify the mother.
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In November 2019, investigators used the DNA to link David Paul to a distant relative of the child's mother and learned that there were female relatives living in the neighborhood where he was found.
On the 32nd anniversary of David Paul's discovery, police made contact with a woman who admitted she had abandoned him at the base of a tree.
"(The woman) admitted to waiting 32 years for the day in which police would be knocking on her door regarding this incident," Police Chief Jeffry Cossette said at the time.
Police did not press charges against the mother. The statute of limitations for manslaughter is 20 years, according to police.
