CINCINNATI — Officials have identified a child whose body was found in Cincinnati in 1979.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office said that 18-month-old Velina Jeter was the child dubbed “Cincinnati’s Baby Angel,” according to our news partners, WCPO.
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Jeter was found dead in a field off Eiler Lane on Feb. 4, 1979.
Hamilton County Coroner, Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco, said forensic anthropology was used to help determine the baby’s sex, race, and possible age. Her cause of death was determined to be a subdural hematoma from head trauma.
“I think the important point here is that a lot of people think cold cases mean they’re cold and that nobody’s working on them and that they’re just forgotten, and that just isn’t the case,” Sammarco said.
The body was exhumed in 2008 to get DNA information. It was sent to the Ohio BCI, which then put together a profile that investigators could work off of.
Cincinnati Police Specialists Jeff Smallwood and Heather Saidler said that Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy led them to identify the child as Jeter after years of searching.
Jeter was born in Columbus on June 10, 1977, to Sharon Jetter and Barry Lee Valentine.
Both parents have since died, her mother in 2013, and her father in 2011.
Even with her identity, investigators are still searching for the reason that Jetter was in Cincinnati.
Living relatives of Jetter were notified, but none were sure of why she would have been in that area.
“We still don’t know what happened and how she wound up in the field,” Smallwood said. “We’re still looking for everything, still looking at everything.”
Sammarco said that it was not clear who had custody of the child at the time of her death, but investigators said neither of her parents is suspected of being involved in the girl’s death.
Anyone with information that could help investigators identify a suspect is encouraged to reach out with any information.
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