KEITHVILLE, La. (AP) - For more than 20 years, Susan and Wayne Nichols shared a prayer that the questions surrounding an infant boy who was found dead after being discarded in a trash bag would be answered.
Wayne found the child after he witnessed a stray dog bury it between the beams at a structural steel fabrication plant where he worked in March 1999.
The event changed both of their lives, giving them a stronger call to help others, Susan recalled. Wayne died just before his 65th birthday in late 2019. After finding the infant, he became a full-time firefighter and spent the remainder of his career in fire emergency service. Susan, who was a volunteer firefighter at the time, now works as a deputy emergency communications officer at the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office.
“You know, hopefully, something can break and they can, you know, find out who it is and just put the case to rest. Because the fact that the case is cold and, you know, and that nothing has been found or done is, you know, I don’t know. It’s like the baby still can’t rest in peace,” Susan said.
“It’s our prayer. It’s been Wayne’s and it’s mine as well. Hopefully, the case can be resolved,” she continued.
FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1999
Workers of a structural steel fabrication plant of Kenneth Salley Enterprises Inc. dodged a black-plastic bag near the center line of the road on their way to work, in the 11600 block of Old Mansfield Road. It wasn’t uncommon for unwanted animals and trash to be left on that stretch of road, according to workers in a previous report.
But around noon that day, Wayne, a welder, was on lunch break and saw a stray dog with something in his mouth. His first thought was that the dog may have a chicken or something, he told The Times in a 1999 report.
The dog was on the other side of the road, so it was unclear. As the dog approached the plant’s yard, Nichols then thought it could possibly be a baby.
He followed the dog toward stacks of rusty, steel beams and then watched the dog emerge from the stacks, no longer carrying anything. Wayne notified the office to call the sheriff’s department and was joined by a few other workers to search for what the dog may have left behind.
Another worker found what appeared to be a small hand sticking up between two beams. All but the child’s hand was buried in the ground.
Deputies arrived on the scene soon after.
The baby was estimated to be no older than just a few days old. Bloody newspapers and towels were also found by investigators, but his head was missing.
“It affected my husband, of course, terribly for a long time. He, um, he would have nightmares, he would, um…,” Susan said, taking a brief pause while attempting to contain her emotions.
“There was a couple of times he was driving down the road and he would see like a, um, he would, he would see something on the side of the road or (he) would see a trash bag, you know, and he’d have a reaction and flash back to it,” she continued.
THE INVESTIGATION
Caddo Sheriff deputies captured the dog and it was later euthanized so its stomach contents could be analyzed. Inside the dog’s stomach appeared to be skull and cap, and some facial tissues, The Times previously reported.
Local hospitals were checked to see if the mother showed for medical attention.
At the beginning of the investigation, the baby was estimated to have been less than a day old. But later news reports said that he was probably about two to three days old. The child’s umbilical cord was still attached.
There was also uncertainty on whether the baby was black or white; if whether the baby was alive when his head was decapitated; the possibility that the child wasn’t born alive due to the condition of the remains; and what removed the child’s head.
Investigators now believe the baby is white, and that he was alive when born.
DNA was taken from the scene. The blood on the newspaper and towels were determined to not belong to the infant, but possibly the mother. This DNA information was put into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but there were no matches.
The case was reopened last May. Caddo Sheriff’s detective Jeremy Prudhome has considered the possibility, among many, of the mother being a young girl at the time. He has followed up with individuals who were pregnant or young mothers then and checking on what happened to their children.
He also talked with longtime residents.
“They remember it happening, but they don’t remember anything as far as hearing about anybody that was involved,” he told The Times in a previous report.
Provide a tip
Tips can be made by contacting Det. Prudhome at (318) 681-0719.
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