Baby’s Remains Found In Hamilton Parish
[Updated with video. Police said the remains were of a baby boy in a “mummified condition, fully disinterred and appears to have a medical band of some type around his wrist.”
Police said based on the information gathered thus far this death does not appear to be suspicious. The police also added that in recent weeks there has been extensive maintenance being carried out at this particular grave site resulting in a number of tombs being refurbished.]
Police have confirmed the extremely sad news that the “remains of a young child” were found at just past 11.00am today [May 9] in the area of Trinity Church Road in Hamilton Parish.
Police Media Manager Dwayne Caines has confirmed that police responded to a report at 11.23am this morning after a landscaper came upon what he said was the “remains of young child.”
This is a developing situation and we will update as able.
Update: 12.49pm: Police said the Forensic Support Unit, Criminal Investigation Unit are on scene and a full investigation into the incident is underway.
We will post the full video of the police statement shortly.
Update 1.29pm: Video statement from Mr. Caines below
Update 2.03pm: We asked the Police about reported missing children or infants, and they confirmed that the Police have not received any reports of missing children or babies this year.
Update 5.33pm: Assistant Commissioner Antoine Daniels the remains were “of a baby in a mummified condition.”
Mr Daniels said, “I wish to reassure the Bermuda community that we are conducting enquiries into the discovery of the baby remains found in Hamilton Parish today, however based on the information gathered thus far this death does not appear to be suspicious.
“In recent weeks there has been extensive maintenance being carried out at this particular grave site resulting in a number of tombs being refurbished. The baby was found in a mummified condition, fully disinterred and appears to have a medical band of some type around his wrist.”
Mr. Daniels full statement follows below:
About 11.20am today police received a report of what appeared to be the remains of a lifeless baby discovered near to a grave site on Trinity Church Road in Hamilton Parish.
Police attended a short time later and on arrival confirmed that there were remains of a baby in a mummified condition. A medical practitioner attended the scene and confirmed that the body appeared to be of an infant male.
A forensic examination was conducted of the scene and a comprehensive search made of the immediate area seeking any additional information that could assist police officers with their initial investigations.
I wish to reassure the Bermuda community that we are conducting enquiries into the discovery of the baby remains found in Hamilton Parish today, however based on the information gathered thus far this death does not appear to be suspicious.
In recent weeks there has been extensive maintenance being carried out at this particular grave site resulting in a number of tombs being refurbished. The baby was found in a mummified condition, fully disinterred and appears to have a medical band of some type around his wrist.
Police are currently in the process of speaking to the contractors conducting renovations at the grave site, members of the various churches linked to the grave site, as well as the officials at the King Edward Memorial hospital. An autopsy will be conducted in the near future in an effort to ascertain the cause of death.
Police are interested in speaking with anyone who has any knowledge of this incident and in particular anyone who has any knowledge regarding the medical treatment and/or burial of an infant in recent months, is asked to contact Inspector Mark Clarke of the Vulnerable Persons Unit on telephone number 295-0011.
Update 5.49pm: Following the latest police update, and confirmation there was no crime, we have removed some of the comments. Apologies to our readers, however this is obviously a hard situation for the parents.
Also, whether it is related or not we have been unable to confirm, but about three weeks ago there were rumours of grave tampering at a Hamilton parish Church.
At that time, the police said there was a “miscommunication regarding grave maintenance between a funeral home and a Hamilton parish church where two graves were opened over the weekend for routine maintenance. No remains were removed and the family of the deceased were aware that the scheduled maintenance was to take place.”
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- Identity Of Mummified Baby Remains Unknown | Bernews.com | June 14, 2014
I like others went through all my relatives and their young children in my head.. This is horrible news! What is going on!
Regardless of the circumstances, this is terribly sad.
My heart goes out to the innocent family!!
That’s what I hope Josie…Its an old Grave..
A very , very good question…this already looks really, really bad and my heart is heavy!
Has anyone thought that maybe as the childs remains were found in a graveyard the child has been deceased for some time? Might be that the grave was dug up? RIP little one.
Exactly. People always jumping to conclusions before getting the whole story.
So very sad . . . Rest in peace, little angel.
The bottom line is that the remains of a young child was found, whatever the reason it is very sad to hear such news. R.I.P. little one.
Did it occur to anyone to check with the wardens of the church about possible burials there BEFORE they got the Bermudian public all riled up? This was terribly upsetting to a lot of people over a natural occurrence.
Please people have a heart, just think about what the parents are going through at this time. They have already buried their loved one and then something of this sort happens. For the parents to relive this again is just heart breaking. My prayers are with the families of this precious baby.
Very sad.
“In recent weeks there has been extensive maintenance being carried out at this particular grave site resulting in a number of tombs being refurbished’
Sloppy and Very Unprofessional!!
1. If a grave was being refurbished and if a mummified body was disinterred then why the hell didn’t the person or people carrying out the refurbishing job, put the little body back where they took it from? Maybe a ghost scared them before they were able to put the body back.
2. Wouldn’t the records of the Church and the records of the funeral homes be checked for the burial of an infant in recent months, before they do an autopsy? It maybe that the records have been checked. It maybe that there is no record of an infant being buried in recent months and hence the performance of an autopsy.
Whatever the answer is. This is one strange occurrence. “Rest in Peace Little One”.
Bernews, regarding your update at 5:49pm yesterday it would appear that the statement given by the police at that time was not correct. Maybe they should have investigated just a bit more. Reading the statement from 21st April 2014 it appears that the graves may have been left open over a period of time and probably weren’t monitored. I pray that there will be a mini service to return the body of this young child to his resting place. Such sad and disturbing news.
Questions: if this child was buried by a funeral home would they have left the information band found on the child.
This is very sad news and my prayer is that this child had been interred and the heartless person/persons who dug up the grave could have cared less about the deceased and cast it aside. I agree with the person above who encouraged people to check the grave register at the church – which would help tremendously with this case
How is it that this 1 baby is the only deceased person I know of that was buried with a medical band???? I pray that I’m wrong about my thoughts but I’ve never known or heard of or seen anybody being buried with a medical band.. So plz someone explain why this isn’t suspicious. I just hope and pray this wasn’t an abandoned baby. And we need this baby back to Resting In Peace.