SAN ANTONIO — Pam Allen is the face for Eagle Advocacy & Outreach. Her task since 2014 is to coordinate the final rites of children who have died primarily at the hand of abuse and abandonment. She assists with qualifying child funerals too.
“We don’t prepare for that,” she said. “No. Parents always believe their children are going to bury them.”
Allen’s non-profit has buried 24 children since its inception. But there is one service she has not completed.
“We have everything in line and everything planned,” she said.
On July 3, 2018, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office was discovered during a drug bust at home in the 7900 block of Bronco Lane. Investigators said the baby was in a trunk.
“It’s quite possible that this baby could have been dead for well over a decade at this point,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
According to investigators, the child’s remains were in such a state no gender or cause of death could be determined.
Salazar said the case is going to rely almost exclusively on forensic evidence. His office sent a DNA sample from the remains to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in Fort Worth.
The lab’s website said it is a global leader in forensic identification. Their services include forensic and anthropological examinations for criminal cases and missing persons identification.
“We believe we might know who this baby is, and we might know some circumstances surrounding their death,” Salazar said.
BSCO Change Management Specialist Sandra Pickell said investigators believe the parents were at the home at the time of the discovery. No one has been arrested. In fact, the case is a death investigation until the sheriff’s office gets forensic evidence something criminal occurred. The process for answers is lengthy.
“Everyone involved would like this to be rushed and give that baby the proper burial and closure,” Pickell said. “But we’re not able to do that as fast as we would like.”
Baby Doe’s remains are being handled by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office until released to Allen for a proper burial.
“For me to be able to pay that proper respect---and to do the right thing,” Allen said. “And to lay that baby to rest. That’s important. That’s important to us.”