Dead infant's parents turn themselves in

MILFORD -- Two people turned themselves in to police yesterday, saying they were the parents of a newborn boy whose body was found in the back of a garbage truck Saturday.

The parents, whose names were not released, were not charged with any crimes, said Thomas O'Loughlin , chief of the Milford Police Department.

The woman, a 27-year-old from Milford, was moved to turn herself in by the kindness of a veteran detective who interviewed her at her home yesterday, O'Loughlin said. When the mother showed up at the town police station at noon, she had a "glazed look," and was "clearly remorseful," he said.

Paramedics treated her for "the natural conditions you would expect to find after someone's given birth," O'Loughlin said.

"She's OK physically," he said. "Emotionally, she's going to need help."

O'Loughlin declined to say whether the baby was alive at birth, because investigators have yet to determine the cause and manner of the death. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has scheduled an autopsy for today.

If the baby was stillborn, a charge could be brought of disposal of a dead body. If he was alive at birth, charges could range from manslaughter to homicide, O'Loughlin said.

Denise Monteiro , spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, said last night that the agency has asked Milford police to arrange an interview with the family about the status of any other children in the household. The agency's level of involvement, she said, depends on the results of the autopsy.

Two trash collectors discovered the body in the back of their truck as they collected garbage at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday on Purchase Street, a busy route that passes from Hopkinton to Milford near exits to Interstate 495.

The collectors had picked up trash from about 10 houses on the street and were about to compact the load when they spotted the body, which appeared to have tumbled from a trash bag, O'Loughlin said.

The trash haulers alerted Milford police, who launched an investigation with the State Police.

Officers canvassed residents on and around Purchase Street, asking whether anyone knew a woman who was recently pregnant, O'Loughlin said.

One of those officers, Detective Dustin Testa , a 10-year veteran of the Milford Police Department, spoke to the mother at her home, O'Loughlin said. Yesterday, she showed up at the police station with the boy's father and asked for Testa, O'Loughlin said.

"He treated her as a person," O'Loughlin said. "She was appreciative of that, and that's why she asked for him. His good work paid off."

Investigators had also launched a painstaking forensic investigation, collecting DNA samples from trash barrels and from the inside of the garbage truck.

Officers also sifted through letters and papers in the garbage truck, in hopes of finding the boy's parents, said Brian Murray, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

The discovery of the body has unsettled residents in this suburb of about 27,000, located 39 miles southwest of Boston.

"I was very ill when I heard it," said Joyce Shreenan, a Purchase Street resident who was standing yesterday in the doorway of her home with her grandchildren, ages 5 and 3. "It's hard to think about this happening in Milford, especially when there are so many other options."

A priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish preached about the discovery of the baby in his homily yesterday, said Marie J. Parente , a former Milford state representative who attended the service.

"Our pastor preached about how casually we take lives, and to throw a baby away in a trash can is a symbol of just how far we've come," Parente said yesterday. "It has taken everyone by surprise, and everyone is sad about it."

Since the Legislature adopted the Baby Safe Haven law in 2004, parents who leave an unwanted child at a hospital or police or fire station within seven days of birth are not prosecuted.

Murray said the Board of Selectmen plans to promote the law at a board meeting tonight.

"I've got to think that the parents who abandoned this child did not know that the law was out there," Murray said. "It's a horrible, horrible tragedy. And the sad irony is that it's preventable."

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. Christine McConville of the Globe staff contributed to this report.