The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages and is intended for a mature
audience.
Listener discretion is advised.
Welcome back everyone.
Welcome back.
This is Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski .
And I am your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And here at Cold and Missing we focus exclusively on...
Cold cases and unresolved missing person cases.
Alright, so we had a little blip this week.
Yeah, I want to apologize to our listeners.
I know our episodes usually come out on Monday and this is coming out on a Tuesday.
Eli and I were both really sick this weekend.
You were much more than I was.
Yeah, I don't think I've mentioned this before on the podcast, but I get chronic migraines,
so I get like 15 or more a month.
And I'm usually able to white-knuckle through them to get the podcast out, but this past
weekend was just a three-day non-stop migraine fest.
So I went ahead and took the time to rest.
I'm sure if you've ever had a migraine, you will understand.
And thanks for joining us on a Tuesday and we'll be back to our regular schedule next
week.
Well, we're definitely glad to be back, even if we're a day behind schedule.
But I think our followers are with us.
What do you think, honey?
I think they're there.
So without further ado, enough waiting.
We have a cold case this week.
We're on a cold case.
Yes.
Alrighty, let's get to it.
So today I have a cold case and just as a content warning at the top, this does involve
an infant.
This is the cold case of Baby Victor, an unknown baby that was found in Fairfield, Connecticut
in March of 1986.
But first a little bit about Baby Victor.
So Victor was actually given that name by police because they believe that they will
be victorious in solving this crime.
Victor was likely born on March 13th, 1986.
He would be 37 years old today.
He was white with brown hair and brown eyes.
He was 20 inches long and six pounds.
And now a timeline of events.
On Friday, March 14th, 1986, three town conservation employees were emptying trash cans at Lake
Mohegan near an area known as the Cascades.
It was a popular jogging and hiking area.
It was also known as a makeout spot and the occasional party would break out there.
At 9.53 a.m., the workers find the body of a newborn baby next to a trash can.
The baby's body had been laid on a scrap piece of burlap and had been wrapped in women's
PJs with red cherries on them.
A piece of plastic was laid over the baby and surrounding him were pieces of food, fruit,
coins and trinkets.
Immediately police begin to wonder if the baby was part of a ritual.
Police Captain Joseph Sandbrook says, quote, We kind of feel that maybe the baby was the
result of an unwed mother or maybe was conceived by someone other than the woman's husband.
And due to archaic religious beliefs, the baby had to be killed.
And this ritual performed.
That's what it kind of looks like today.
It's just not a baby thrown away.
End quote.
On Saturday, March 15th, 1986, Victor's autopsy is done and it's revealed that he was alive
when he was born and the official cause of death is suffocation.
After death, his jaw was broken and injuries were made to the head and face.
But police don't go into what they are.
They say that it's too, quote, shocking.
End quote.
But that the marks could have some sort of religious significance.
Captain Sandbrook says, quote, We don't believe it is a cult type thing, but we suspect that
some sort of ceremony was performed.
End quote.
Police begin talking with religious officials and anthropology professors about what this
could possibly be.
It's also around this time that police are contacted by a bank data processing center
that was located at the King's Highway Black Rock Turnpike Traffic Circle in Fairfield.
According to police, employees heard screaming coming from the women's restroom on March
13th, the day before Victor was found.
Then employees heard a baby crying.
No one in the office checked the noises out and the bathrooms were only accessible to
employees.
On the evening, a cleaning crew found a large quantity of blood in the women's restroom.
The crew cleans it up, leaving no trace and again doesn't report it.
On Tuesday, March 18th, police believe heavily that the killing was part of a ritual and
they begin to zero in on Santeria.
However, very quickly, people with actual knowledge of Santeria shut this down.
Alan Howard, the professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston
says quote, categorically, nothing that was done to harm the child had anything to do
with Santeria, end quote.
Since baby Victor was found, police had been scouring the area looking for clues.
They'll use bloodhounds, aircraft and deploy divers into Lake Mohegan and the nearby Mill
River, but they'll all come up empty.
On Thursday, March 20th, this is six days since baby Victor was found, police announced
that they are going to be operating in a quote, media blackout, but hold firm that the murder
was religious or ritualistic.
Police also invite detective Richard Alvarez, a detective from New Jersey who had investigated
cult related killings to Fairfield to review the case.
And then from here, the case really goes cold.
It is a little hard to research because the baby didn't have a name until 2011.
But in everything that I could find, the next thing that pops up is actually in 2009.
In 2009, so this would be 23 years since baby Victor was found.
In reviewing the case, police review the crime scene photos and notice graffiti on a picnic
table 20 to 30 feet from where Victor was found.
The graffiti ultimately leads back to a Bridgeport West End gang who used to hang out in the
area.
In March 2011, so this is 25 years since baby Victor has been found, police reopen the investigation.
It's also at this time that he's given the name Victor.
Police began reexamining the evidence to see if there are any things that can be tested
with new technology.
And from this, police are able to pull a full DNA profile from the pajamas who they believe
were Victor's mother and they believe the DNA profile is Victor's mother.
But then that is all that I could find.
In 2018, there was a 32 year anniversary where they went over the case again in the local
media, but that was really it.
There was no new evidence that was revealed in 2018.
So if you know anything about the death of baby Victor or the identity of baby Victor,
you are encouraged to call Detective Carrie Dowling at the Fairfield police and that's
203-254-4840 or you can email her at kdalling.us or you can call the tip line at 860-548-0606
and there is a $25,000 reward.
And the sources for today's podcast come from the Hartford Courant and I read seven
different articles by them.
They really covered this case, especially in 1986 when it was happening.
The Daily News, the Post Star, Press of Atlantic City, Ashbury Park Press, Connecticut.gov,
ConnecticutInsider.com and ConnecticutPost.com.
So that is the case of baby Victor.
And thank you for the trigger warning or just like the content warning.
Yeah, this it's a hard one.
It's I mean, they all are but the and I know we've talked about this before, you know,
specifically in cases that are cold and missing the the discarding of like the human life
in in this case, it's just there's no way for that not to feel like very palpable and
present because that's literally what happened, you know, or seems like that.
And it's just honestly, honey, it's like kind of difficult to talk about.
I mean, I don't think it should be easy.
Yeah.
And I think the added layer of just like not really knowing who this baby is, you know,
and being named years after the fact, like that's really heartbreaking because he is
a person he he was a life that was here for a short time, but deserves a name deserves
respect deserves it all.
So yeah, pretty bunch the instant clue that, you know, whoever gave birth to him was probably
not in any sort of positive situation.
I'm just going to go ahead and assume.
Yeah, I would say that whoever gave birth to baby Victor was not in a good place.
Yeah, I feel like I don't have enough maybe developed language around, you know, pregnancy
and and giving birth.
But the first thing I thought was like someone was forced into birthing or don't even want
to say it.
Like, well, I guess that like forced like the baby was maybe not ready.
And do you do you know what I'm saying?
Like the baby was taken out or?
Well, they do think that baby Victor is tied to the woman giving birth at the bank data
processing center.
Correct.
Yes.
And as a side note to that, like, I am somebody who works in an office.
And if I heard screaming, coming from the restroom and nobody screaming anywhere, yeah,
and nobody thought to go check on it.
I'm like, what is happening at this workplace that that is like, that that wasn't out of
the norm.
Like if that's the mill, what else is happening there?
And for the cleaning crew to like not notify anyone like, hey, there's a bunch of blood
in the bathroom.
Like, what is like?
Yeah.
So they do believe that that could possibly be where baby Victor was born because the
timeline matches up to how old he was.
Yeah, I mean, I think my body or brain just naturally filled in that detail.
That must be who it is.
But still the circumstance surrounding that is like, again, like, how what?
Why?
Why was someone giving birth in an office if that's the case?
And like, no one did anything yet.
Just like tons and tons of questions.
Right.
And then to go from possibly giving birth in an office to then this site at Lake Mohegan
that is set up.
You know, that has the trinkets, it has the coins, it has the fruit like it.
Yeah, it took time.
So yeah, again, this one is just this one is just very strange.
Lots of questions, lots of unanswered already existing questions.
Oh, yeah.
And again, if you know anything about what happened to baby Victor in March of 1986,
please call the tip line at the Fairfield Police Department at 860-548-0606 or you can
contact Detective Carrie Dowling directly at 203-254-4840 or email her at kdalling at
town.fairfield.ct.us.
Yeah, that is all we have.
So again, as we always pitch at the end of our podcast, if you would like to follow us,
we're going to be posting more about baby Victor this week on our Instagram.
You can follow us at Cold and Missing while you're in your podcast app getting ready to
go to your next show.
If you could leave us a review or subscribe so that way you never miss an episode.
If we ever have to go on a Tuesday again, you won't miss it.
You'll be right in the know and you'll have the new episode there when you wake up in
the morning.
And yeah, and thank you so much for everyone who's been reviewing and reaching out to us
either via the Instagram or on our YouTube channel.
It's been great conversation and really appreciate family that's been reaching out from some
of the cases that we've covered.
So yeah, that's honestly when it's the most it's when we feel the work.
Yeah, that's the best feeling in the world is to have family say thank you.
It's very humbling.
But that's all I have.
So have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.