Mysterious woman is at center of probe into dead babies found in L.A. basement

 

Gloria Gomez stepped eagerly into the basement of the once-grand Glen-Donald apartment building near Los Angeles' MacArthur Park on Tuesday afternoon, hoping to find some treasures in three large trunks that someone had left there in storage decades ago.

The first two trunks were empty. Using a screwdriver, she broke the lock on the third. Gomez, the building’s manager and an amateur antique collector, was giddy over what she found in the former ballroom: a gleaming crystal bowl, stacks of beautiful books, including a copy of “Peter Pan,” and two leather doctor’s satchels.

Cradling one of the bags, Gomez turned to her friend, Yiming Xing, and said, “These must be worth a lot of money!”

Inside the bag was a small bundle wrapped in copies of the Los Angeles Times from the 1930s. Xing unpeeled the newspapers and shrank back in horror. Inside the satchels were the mummified remains of two babies. The women immediately called police, who are now trying to unravel a mystery worthy of Raymond Chandler. 

 

Investigators say the babies may have died up to eight decades ago, although they won’t know for sure until tests are completed on the remains.

 

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department are working with few solid leads but some tantalizing clues, including a ticket stub from the closing ceremonies of the 1932 Olympics at the L.A. Coliseum.

The trunk appears to have belonged to a woman named Jean M. Barrie. Inside it were postcards sent to her from far-flung locales like Korea and South America and a pile of black-and-white photographs.

They show a beautiful, light-haired woman -- who may have been Barrie -– on vacation and in a long white wedding dress. Among Barrie’s possessions was a membership to the Peter Pan Woodland Club, an upscale resort in Big Bear that offered guests swimming pools, skating ponds and hunting preserves.

Detectives are examining Barrie’s apparent interest in Peter Pan, especially considering that she shared the last name and initials of the book’s author, J.M. Barrie, who died in 1937. Records show that a Jean Barrie who worked as a nurse lived about three miles from the apartment on South Lake Street in 1933.

Authorities said they are classifying the discovery as a “death investigation.” They stressed that it's too early to tell whether this is a homicide case but vowed to find out what happened to the babies.

“We'll put detectives on this case for the long term,” LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said. “We'll try to reconstruct the circumstances based on what the coroner tells us, based on the history of the residence and based on science. We have many more tools and technology available to us than before, which may allow for identification of the victims and closure to any family members.”

Sources with knowledge of the case said one of the babies appeared to be premature – and might have been miscarried or aborted. The other baby appeared to be a newborn.

The remains will be examined Thursday by a pathologist and an anthropologist, according to Los Angeles County Coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter. He said investigators will also try to use DNA testing to determine whether the babies are related and toxicology tests to find out why they died.

Capt. Fabian Lizzaraga of the LAPD’s juvenile division stressed that detectives don’t know much, including whether the babies were born at the apartment building or whether the trunks were moved there later. It’s also possible the babies died later and were wrapped in old newspapers.

-- Kate Linthicum and Andrew Blankstein

Photos: Items found with the bodies

Photo: Building manager Gloria Gomez, left, and tenant Yiming Xing were checking out the contents of three trunks in the storage room of a Los Angeles apartment building when they found the remains of two infants. Below: Items found in basement. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[LA Resident]

Hey LA Times! I have a better idea. How about discussing/probing into why locals ignore the history behind this formerly beautiful, wealthy and classic Los Angeles neighborhood and let it fall into ruin, filth and disrepair?

There's a story. Come on. I am far more interested in asking why no one wants to preserve and restore these old buildings; it seems like no one else in LA is.

[Malby4]

It seems likely that these deaths occurred over 50 years ago. I hope the LAPD is not wasting a lot of time on them. What about the kid about to die on the streets of Compton?

[Peggy Kelly]

There was also an artist named Jane M. Barrie in the 1920's - just might be the same person.

Very sad situation… but fascinating nevertheless.

[Torrance Mom]

From the known fragments of information...sounds like it could be a nurse/midwife who delivered the stillborns and for some reason never disposed of them...or perhaps they were her stillborns and she wanted them kept close...i hope the police can solve the mystery.

[Thea123]

The Peter Pan Woodlands Club was a membershop development east of Big Bear that was opened in the 1030's. It had a lodge, golf course, move screening facilities etc. It burnt down in the 1040's. There are several Jean M. Barrie's searchable online that would have been alive in the 30's. What a mystery!

[Eric of Reseda]

",,,to her from far-flung locals like Korea and South America..."

It's 'locales'.

[bryan galt]

I understand the curiosity associated with a find like this, but not the commitment of the police, as LAPD Chief Charlie Beck put it, "We'll put detectives on this case for the long term."

If the coroner and the anthropology report show that the babies are as old as 80, then it would be something of a waste of time. The harsh reality would be that no one associated with those children would be alive today, at least no one that would have even been aware of them. The most interesting clue is the fact that the babies were found in a doctor's bag.

Perhaps these were aborted children, or perhaps they were from a hospital lab. Regardless of the potential scenario, the police have more pressing, present day deaths to investigate, especially those surrounding the LA County Children Services, since it would seem that no one is involved in investigating the deaths of so many of these poor kids.

[Tony ( aka Brains)]

How sad for the infants, now they may be properly buried. Once the person who did this is found history may explain it. More than likely times then being what they were these were children ' out of wedlock', back then something that was 'frowned' upon. This is what 'society' did to her, the will of the people made it so that a woman was 'persona non grata' for having children without a 'husband'. This is why the 'will of the people' argument so many use is 'flawed'. Had things been different then these children may have been someone's grandparents.

[Spelling Bee Champ]

How far flung were the locals?
Kate Linthicum and Andrew Blankstein, I think you meant" locales." I'm surprised and saddened by the lack of professional editing!

[andy]

I have to wonder how much of our tax money is going to be thrown at this "long term" (to quote Chief Beck) investigation. How about going after some *current* crimes with those dollars...or use the money to test some of the nearly 13,000 rape kits in L.A. that remain untested? Or do something actually productive?

[MSS]

That neighborhood fell into decay and disrepair 50 years ago when few of its current inhabitants lived in the US or were born yet. It's not their fault that it's a bad hood nowadays although certainly they could do more to fix it up. I doubt it'll be turned around given the current economy but if the current inhabitants of the area make enough of an effort to help bring it back all the more power to them.

[MSS]

This is a good example of how things were back when abortion was illegal in California. Let it remain legal so this sort of thing never happens again.

[just b]

People, including babies die every day, every where. What is the relevance of unknown ones that left this world 80 years ago? There are crimes happening *right now* that affect people in the present. This is a an independent study case for Forensics grad students, not the police.

[drewshuey]

J.M. Barrie is the author of Peter Pan.

[Gene]

Fascinating story, marred only by sloppiness (or did a flawed spell-checking program bite you?):

"Inside it were postcards sent to her from far-flung locals like Korea and South America and a pile of black-and-white photographs. "

locales, not locals.

If you folks in the newsroom are actually monitoring this (see the post from a few days ago on the Readers Representative's blog), why not fix the faulty spelling? Three readers have pointed it out. One advantage of this medium over the print edition is that even if an error does slip through, you can fix it instantly. Why not take advantage of the tools at your disposal?

[James Jackson]

We can draw obvious conclusions from this event. Even though religion's influence on 1930s law prohibited them, professionals nevertheless performed clandestine abortions, with the macabre results shown in this story. All parties concerned back then would have endured less suffering had abortion been legal. Religion would prohibit sex today (as it does in the Middle East) had it the political power. This story confirms that law does not control or prevent certain behavior, it just drives it underground.

By the way, congratulations to Ms. Barrie for apparently taking control of her life so long ago.

[The Professor Dalen Rune]

Merry Meet and Shalom Aleichem,
Malby 4 said, "I hope the LAPD is not wasting a lot of time on them.".
"... wasting a lot of time... "??
Every life... and death... is important.
This is why we have people protesting Pre-Natal-Infanticide (P.N.I.)
or "abortion"!!
Every person deserves justice and closure!!
At least a minimal amount of respect!!
N.B.C.'s Today Show couldn;t give 10 minutes much less 15 minutes!!
(Andy Worhol's "15 minutes of fame")
I don;t know about anybody-else but I would like to know what happened!!
Thank you, Aleichem Shalom, and Blessed Be Y'All!!
Saturnday, 9th of Sextember, 6026 Anno Mundi Vulgaris
Dies Saturni, 8th of Augustus, 2763 Ab Urbe Condita
Saturday, 21st of August, 2010 Common Era
@ 14:20 Universal Time Coordinated.