WASHINGTON — The homicide detectives stood in the cold wind Monday at a quiet Clinton cemetery to bury an infant they named Maria del Pilar. They were the only mourners.
A month ago, the newborn was found alive in a trash bag in the Takoma Park, Md., area. She died later that day, and her mother was charged with murder. No one stepped forward to bury her, so Prince George’s County, Md., police officers gathered one morning to do so themselves.
“This was a baby no one loved. This was a child who did absolutely nothing wrong,” said Maj. Daniel Dusseau, head of major crimes for the Prince George’s police.
Maria is the third infant whom Prince George’s police have named and buried at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton, a somber ritual that officers say is both cathartic and, they hope, a reminder to parents of what happens when they abandon a baby.
Buried next to Maria are two others: John Caleb Daniels, who was found in a plastic grocery bag in Oxon Hill, Md., in 2004, and Maria Grace Daniels, who was found in a plastic bag in a sediment pond in Riverdale Park, Md., in 2006.
The children could have been taken to a hospital, a church, a fire station or another safe haven, as allowed under Maryland state law, authorities said. Instead, police investigated their deaths and planned their funerals.
The lead investigator in Maria’s case, Detective Nelson Rhone, organized Monday’s service and helped name Baby Jane Doe: Maria, because she was Hispanic, and del Pilar, after the Virgin of El Pilar, who is celebrated in Spain on Oct. 12, the day of the baby’s birth and death.
“Every detective wants to close his case and provide some closure for the family. Unfortunately, when there is no family, the only closure we can provide is to the infant,” Rhone said.
The funeral was a collaborative effort: The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89 raised money for a headstone, Lee’s Funeral Home donated all services and a tiny coffin, Clinton Floral Shop sent a basket of pink carnations and white daisies, and the police chaplain performed the ceremony.
In addition to showing compassion to infants who died within hours of birth, the funerals help detectives cope with the heartbreak of such cases, said Steve Rhoads, the police chaplain. Most people don’t realize the strong bond that investigators often form with victims whose deaths they are trying to solve, he said.
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