The mystery of a baby girl found dead by a river remains unsolved more than 20 years on. A fisherman discovered baby 'Amanda' in a white sack, weighed down by a brick and nestled among reeds.
The baby, who had a mass of black hair, was found by local fisherman Barry Kingwell in September 2002. She was named by police as Amanda, but her real identity has never been found. Medical experts say she died within days of her birth.
Mr Kingwell made the discovery while he was checking his crab pots early one morning. He spotted a sack in the reeds at Arch Brook Creek on the Teign estuary near Coombe Cellars in Devon, and inside was a dark-haired, 9lb baby girl.
The baby had been wrapped in a man-made white hessian sack, which had been placed into a similar larger bag, Devon Live reports. Both bags were weighed down with a house brick.
A post-mortem examination revealed that the baby was born alive and healthy. Nobody knows if she was dead when she was left in the creek or if she was left there to die.
Despite numerous police appeals, no parents or relatives were ever found. But a DNA sample was taken from Amanda’s tiny body and through careful examination of the site where she was found and material discovered, police were able establish a full DNA profile of her mother. To identify the parents, police needed a friend, relative or anyone who has the remotest suspicion to get in touch. But nobody came forward.
To this day, the case remains a mystery. A year after the discovery, people in the local community installed a marble plaque in tribute to the mystery infant.
Standing beside the plaque inscribed with the words: “A tiny flower lent not given, to bud on earth and bloom in heaven.” Detective Sergeant Ken Lamont, who led the investigation, said he hoped the tribute to the baby might prompt someone to break their silence.
Subscribe here for the latest news where you live
Speaking nearly 20 years ago DS Lamnont, who has since retired from policing, said: “While the case remains in the public domain there is always a chance of the mother or someone with knowledge of the matter to come forward. But at such a time we thought that a headstone or plaque would be a fitting end to this tragic incident.
“It is unusual to have a common grave marked, although Teignbridge District Council felt the tragedy had affected the hearts and minds of the local community and were happy to allow the erection of the memorial.”
He added: "We still do not know yet whether this baby died out of natural causes or whether it was something more sinister, but so far all of our leads to find the mother, father or a relative, have turned out negative."
Police were convinced that Amanda's mother and father lived locally. They said that the spot on the River Teign where the body was found would be difficult to find unless by someone who knew the area, and said that the bags could only be bought by local people.
DS Lamont said at the time: "Concealed births are very common but this is very rare as where the baby was deposited is not easy to get to and the mother would not have been able to get there on her own. It is likely that a third party was involved. But we need to find out what happened.
"It could be that the mother was very vulnerable and unaware of what was happening in the birth process itself and unknown to her, or it could be that she is a juvenile who did not know which way to turn.
“She is not a victim in this and we are not necessarily treating this as a crime. But we want to try to find Amanda’s mother because she might be in desperate need of help. She might be finding it difficult to cope as she did not go through the medical channels during her birth. She will have been vulnerable at the time physically."
