PERRY COUNTY (WSIL) -- A mystery covering more than two decades still weighs on a community in Perry County, where the body of newborn girl was found by two fishermen, with no clues as to her identity.
Given the name Baby Sarah by local authorities working the case, she would have celebrated her 21st birthday, April 2, 2021. She was found at Pyramid State Park, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a bag. The community who buried her tiny body say, they don't want to bury her memory.
Perry-Jackson Child Advocacy Center's Executive Director, Betti Mucha, organized a memorial for Baby Sarah's 21'st. She says the rural community was shocked by the discovery.
"You just don't think that it would happen in Pinckneyville," says Mucha.
A handful of people joined her at the Pinckneyville City Park Friday morning, where a memorial was created in Baby Sarah's honor. Baby Sarah is buried in Perry County, after the community came together to raise money for a headstone.
"They wanted her to be buried properly, they wanted her memory to be honored in some way," says Mucha. "She was buried out a Mueller Hill and she had a headstone and then the rest of the money was given to put this memorial here."
The Perry County Sheriff's department says the investigation exhausted all leads in the case, coming up empty even as technology improves DNA testing.
Mucha says the investigation will continue, and birthdays remembered in hopes someone will come forward with information to close the case.
"Eventually we can get some closure for her, for the community, for the family, for the police department," explains Mucha. "Because this affected everybody."
A difficult topic to discuss, in a community caught off guard, Mucha says Baby Sarah didn't have to happen.
"I know that it's hard for people, I know that no one wants to think of children being hurt, being killed, being abused, no one wants to think of that," says Mucha. "But not thinking about it and not recognizing it, just makes the problem worse."
More than a year after Baby Sarah was found, . It lets parents anonymously give up an un-harmed newborn up to 30-days old. They can give their infant to a staff member at a designated Safe Haven.
