MOLINE, Illinois- Moline police are marking the 24th anniversary of the Baby April case, by appealing to the public to come forward with information on the still-unsolved case.
It was April 11, 1992 when a man walking his dog spotted a trash bag floating along the banks of the Mississippi River in Moline off 17th Street.
"So he grabbed a stick to bring it closer to the shore and then that's where he found and tore open the bag and saw the baby," said Moline Detective Scott Williams.
Williams was on duty the day the shaken passerby walked into the police station to alert officers of the somber discovery.
"The umbilical cord was still attached and you could tell it looked, like a sleeping baby, the cold water preserved the child quite a bit," he said.
Dubbed Baby April by police, the newborn girl was buried in Moline's Riverside cemetery.
This year, DNA testing is being done on the case by the University of Northern Texas.
"It received special funding to do this cold case analysis of DNA specifically in cases like this where babies have been left to die. We'll have a pool of individuals to draw from and if their DNA is on file, we will have something to work with," Williams said.
Police don't know what if any criminal charges would or could be filed. Still, nearly a quarter-century later, they are still hoping someone with information comes forward to solve the mystery of what happened to Baby April.
"It was a dead baby. As each new crop of detectives come in, they're just as determined to find out who the mother was and why that baby was placed in the river," he said.