SC police chief says family DNA led to mother who abandoned baby in 1990

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Authorities in South Carolina say DNA submitted to family genealogy sites led them to find and arrest the mother of a baby who was born alive then died abandoned inside a box in a vacant field 29 years ago.

Greenville police Chief Ken Miller says the DNA led them to the probable father of the 6.5-pound baby called Julie Valentine.

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Miller said at a news conference Thursday that the father named Brook Graham as the baby's likely mother. She was arrested late Wednesday and charged with homicide by neglect.

Authorities say the 53-year-old Graham has two grown children.

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Miller says the baby was discovered in February 1990 wrapped in newspaper and bedding in a box by a man picking Valentine's Day flowers for his wife.

Jail records didn't indicate if Graham had a lawyer.

Associated Press