Chief: Family DNA leads police to mother who abandoned baby

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — 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 (3-kilogram) baby called Julie Valentine.

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.

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.