LARIMER COUNTY SHERIFF ‘S DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
Prepared 08-23-06
BABY FAITH – GOD LOVES YOU is the inscription found on a flat head stone in a quiet corner of a Fort Collins cemetery. This head stone marks the grave of an unidentified homicide victim, a newborn Caucasian girl, who was born alive on August 22 of 1996 and found in the waters of Horsetooth Reservoir on August 24, 1996, 10 years ago today.
Around 5:30 pm on August 24, 1996, two young Fort Collins boys who were wading along the shoreline of Horsetooth Reservoir at the north end of Dixon Dam found a plastic bag floating under the surface. They soon discovered it contained the body of a newborn baby and authorities were called to the scene.
Because she was born alive, her death is considered a homicide. The investigation was unsuccessful in determining the identity of the infant or the identity of the mother. As a result, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office named her Baby Faith and made arrangements for her burial in a local cemetery. Many community members worked with the Sheriff’s Office and donated the gravesite and the head stone and many attended a memorial service held for Baby Faith at Timberline Church here in Fort Collins .
Despite a media supported effort to locate anyone with information about Baby Faith and her death, no one came forward to reveal her identity. She is still known only as Baby Faith.
At the same time in 1996, Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office investigated the recovery of a newborn girl found floating in the Arkansas River below the Pueblo Reservoir. Larimer County and Pueblo County authorities worked together due to the similar cases which occurred at the same time. To date, their newborn girl, known as Baby Hope, also remains unidentified. Recently, Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division and plans are underway to resubmit evidence for DNA analysis in the event that modern DNA analysis and comparisons with national databases may aid in the identification of both girls. Early comparisons did not link the two babies.
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office again asks the public for help in this sad case. If anyone has information that may help identify Baby Faith, please contact Lt. Andy Josey of the LCSO Investigations Division. He can be reached at 970-498-5161 or via email at joseyat@larimer.org . Anonymous information can be shared through Larimer County ‘s Crime stoppers program at 970-221-6868 or www.stopcriminals.org. Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office can be contacted at 719-583-6400 if anyone can identify Baby Hope.
For those who wish to visit Baby Faith, she rests in the northeast corner of the Garden of The Christus section of Roselawn Cemetery at 2718 East Mulberry, Fort Collins .