Aug 16, 2019

The Latest: Baby's body found near parking lot in Columbia

Posted Aug 16, 2019 9:22 PM


COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Columbia police say they will use an anthropologist to help identify a baby whose

body was found at the edge of a parking lot.


Assistant Chief Jeremiah Hunter says the child's body was so badly decomposed that its gender couldn't be determined. The infant's cause of death hasn't been determined. Hunter urged people to check on children they know.


Police also apologized that three employees had posed for a selfie in the area several hours after the baby's body was found Thursday. The photo, with the hashtag #CityHallSelfie, shows them smiling and one giving thumbs up. It was part of an international project to depict government employees in their work setting.


The apology said the selfie wasn't meant to be "disrespectful."

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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Columbia police are seeking the public's help to identify a child's body.

Assistant Chief Jeremiah Hunter said in a statement the body was found shortly before noon Thursday at the edge of a parking lot in north-central Columbia. The child appeared to be less than a year old.


Police investigators on the scene Thursday photo courtesy KOMU TV


Hunter did not provide information on the baby's gender or the length of time the child might have been dead.


He urged people to check on children they know about the age of the deceased child.


He said the cause of death has not been determined.