Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic details that some readers may find distressing.Ad 0:00 Click for sound 0:00 / 0:00 The newborn discovered dead in a portable toilet at the Electric Forest music festival last month was a girl, according to a death certificate filed last week with the Oceana County Clerk’s Office, though investigators say they still do not know who she was or who left her there.
The document, filed roughly a month after a cleaning crew found the baby on the final day of the festival at the Double JJ Resort, offers few answers.Under cause of death, it lists “pending,” and under manner of death, “pending investigation,” per WOOD TV8, the NBC affiliate station in Grand Rapids.
The certificate estimates the baby’s date of death as on or about June 27, the day before workers for the festival’s porta-potty vendor reportedly found her with the placenta and umbilical cord still attached.Her age at death is recorded as one minute, while sixteen fields are marked “unknown,” including the identities of the mother and father as well as the infant’s race, ancestry and birthplace.
She was born alive and was viable at birth, Michigan State Police confirmed earlier in July.Investigators have not said whether they believe the baby’s mother attended the festival or whether the birth happened elsewhere before the body was abandoned in the porta-potty.
Detectives continue to fields tips that have come in since the FBI joined the case and announced a $15,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the baby’s death.Anyone with information has been asked to submit tips through MichTip, the state police’s online reporting system, or by calling 1-855-MICHTIP....