Police release crime scene photos in effort to solve 37-year-old cold case

Sioux Falls police are hoping that several previously unreleased crime scene photos will help solve the 37-year-old mystery of who left a baby boy to freeze to death in a ditch just hours after he was born.

On Feb. 28, 1981, police began to receive calls about the bundle of sheets and blankets about three-fourths of a mile south of of the intersection of East 26th Street and South Sycamore Avenue.

What police found was a newborn baby boy who had spent his entire life — about two hours, the coroner estimated — in the ditch before dying of exposure.

An autopsy showed that the infant was not stillborn and had been otherwise healthy, and had probably been in the ditch for about 24 hours. Blood loss may also have been a factor in the death, as the umbilical cord was still attached.

Police at the time had no luck searching for the identity of the mother — and still haven't, even after the advent of DNA testing enabled a new way to search.

Now, police are hoping that they can jog someone's memory about the case, and are releasing three photos of the crime scene to help.

"It's really one of those cases where no piece of information is too small," said police spokesman Sam Clemens.

And if you've got any information, police ask that you call them at 605-367-7212 and ask for Det. Mike Webb, who Clemens said has been "the driving force" behind the case over the last 8 years.

"This was a newborn baby, but it was still a person," Clemens said. "I don't know if we're so interested at this point and time in bringing any type of charges. It's more about to find out what happened and get some resolution to this case."