Authorities are looking for the public’s help in identifying the remains of a child found 41 years ago in Greece.
It’s a case that dates back to March 1976 when the skeletal remains of a young child were found inside a blue metal storage trunk in the basement of an apartment complex on Winston Drive, just off West Ridge Road.
The child was never identified, and in 2015 Greece Police started taking another look at the case.
They also brought in experts at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. One of them is Carol Schweitzer, a supervisor of forensic services who happens to be a Webster native and also was active in helping investigate the Tammy Jo case in Livingston County.
She says with more modern technology, the center was able to come up with a rendering of what the child may have looked like.
“This is the first one, to where we are actually showing the public what this child may have looked like in life and it’s based on a CT scan that was actually donated by Strong Memorial Hospital, where our artists were able to create the facial reconstruction using that CT scan.," Schweitzer told WXXI News.
Schweitzer says it was only recently officials were able to determine the gender of the child; they say the remains are those of a boy, probably 3 to 5 years old. There was also a large abnormality to the boy’s skull, and because of that, investigators believe the child was likely not able to walk and had other disabilities.
The boy had brown hair and was found wearing a light blue pajama top with a deer design on the left chest area. He was also wearing a plastic diaper fastened with two stainless steel diaper pins.
Using isotope testing, which helps analyze blood chemistry, officials believe the boy likely spent the first years of his life in the northwestern U.S. and then moved to the southeastern U.S. before coming to New York.
The cause of death for this boy has not yet been determined, but officials are hoping the new photo may spur some leads into his identity.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)
