December 05, 2025
Kelly Wilkinson/USA TODAY NETWORK
The FBI is trying to identify a dead baby girl found in a Gloucester County dumpster on Dec. 4. 1986.
Nearly four decades ago, investigators found a dead baby girl inside a pizzeria dumpster in South Jersey. They never found her killer, or even a name for the newborn. But as the cold case enters its 40th year, the FBI is turning to the public for help.
The FBI's field office in Philadelphia renewed its call for information on social media Thursday – the anniversary of the girl's death. Investigators are still working to identify Baby Jane Doe, described as a full-term, newborn girl with brown eyes and dark hair. She was left inside a silver plastic trash bag, wrapped in a distinctive beach towel with an "African Plains scene," on Dec. 4, 1986, the FBI said. The multi-colored towel depicted a cheetah sitting between two trees.
The FBI's field office in Philadelphia renewed its call for information on a dead baby girl found in a Washington Township pizzeria dumpster in 1986. The poster above includes images of a beach towel found at the scene.
A farmer searching dumpsters for scraps to feed his pigs discovered the dead infant, the Associated Press reported at the time. He led law enforcement to a 5-foot bin outside a pizza shop on Black Horse Pike in Washington Township. An assistant state medical examiner later determined the baby had been suffocated. She was only a few hours old, and still had part of her umbilical cord attached.
Investigators found fibers in the infant's fists and partial smudged fingerprints on the towel and plastic bag, the Gloucester County Times reported. Newspaper accounts at the time did not indicate whether investigators recovered any DNA from the scene, and the FBI did not respond to a request for comment. DNA evidence was a nascent tool at the time, having been used in a court case for the first time in 1986.
The FBI is asking anyone who can help identify the infant to submit a tip online or call the Philadelphia field office at (215) 418-4000.
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