Georgia police said they have identified the mother of a newborn baby that was found dead in a basement bathroom at a college dormitory in 1996.
According to WSB-TV, the baby boy was discovered in a trash can with his mother’s placenta at Oglethorpe House at the University of Georgia. The baby is believed to have suffered multiple stab wounds shortly after being born, including one to the heart.
According to the Athens Banner-Herald, custodians cleaning the bathroom found blood on a toilet which led to the trash can containing the baby’s body.
The baby was later named Jonathan Foundling. DNA Solves reported that DNA testing led to the identification of his father and mother. The mother, Kathryn Anne Grant, was enrolled at the University of Georgia and was reportedly housed in the residence hall where the baby’s body was found0. Grant withdrew from the University of Georgia later that year and transferred to a college in South Carolina.
Grant reportedly took her own life in 2004 at the age of 29.
In 2021, police collaborated with Othram Inc. of Texas to conduct genealogy testing which was not available in 1996. During a police interview, the baby’s father said he had a sexual relationship with a woman while living on campus in 1994-95.
The man said he only saw the woman once on campus after the relationship ended — and he could not recall her full name but believed her surname was Grant.
Investigators eventually reviewed campus records and located Grant. They also determined that her grades dropped around the time she would have been pregnant, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Grant’s brother allegedly told police that he was stationed in Alaska around the time his sister was pregnant. The brother also claimed that Grant likely would have hidden her pregnancy from their parents.
Concluding their report, police wrote, “Kathryn Grant is the mother of the child,” and due to her death, “this case is exceptionally cleared.”
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[Featured image: WSB-TV video screengrab]
