The cold didn’t kill the newborn baby left on the steps of a West Side church Monday: An autopsy revealed that the child had been stillborn.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office said Tuesday that the baby boy died of “intrauterine asphyxia,” the cutting off of oxygen in the womb.
Although it appeared to lessen the tragedy, the coroner’s finding deepened the mystery surrounding the baby’s demise. If the child was already dead, why go to the trouble of putting a diaper on him and bundling him in women’s clothing, then stealing up to the door of the church before dawn in near-zero temperatures?
There were no answers Tuesday. But one theory was that the child’s mother–perhaps a young girl afraid to tell her parents she was pregnant–wanted to ensure her dead son a Christian burial.
Rev. Peter McQuinn, pastor of Epiphany Catholic Church, at 2524 S. Keeler Ave., where the baby was found, has said the parish will bury the child if no one claims him.
A spokesman for the medical examiner’s office said the full-term infant likely was delivered early Monday, but his age was difficult to determine because the cold may have preserved his body.
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Chicago police continued to search for the baby’s family. “We would like to find the mother to ensure her safety,” said Sgt. Brian Holy, asking that anyone with information call 312-746-8252.
Police would not rule out the possibility that charges might still be brought. Improper disposal of a body is a misdemeanor, legal experts said, but there’s no law against concealing a stillbirth.
McQuinn was still holding out a slim hope Tuesday that the mother might come forward, if only to achieve some closure. Speculating that she must have had the baby in secret, he said, “There’s no worse punishment than to be isolated in your sorrow.”
McQuinn, who serves the heavily Mexican-American Little Village parish, favored the theory a tormented young woman wanted to ensure her dead baby’s eternal rest.
“In her own way,” he said, “she was caring for the child. She did the best she knew how. That’s no sin.”