The search continued Monday for the mother of a baby girl whose body was found at a regional recycling facility in Rochester, Massachusetts, last week.
The mother is believed to have been on Martha's Vineyard — the girl's remains were discovered Thursday in trash at Zero Waste Solutions in Rochester that appeared to have come from Martha's Vineyard, state police said over the weekend.
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Officials have asked for help finding the mother, and on Monday Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois released a new statement Monday, saying, "while there is no threat to the general public, the investigation to date suggests that the health and welfare of the mother may be at risk. Identifying her as soon as possible is of paramount importance and urgency."
"We do have some concerns about her safety, so we would really like to make contact with her," Galibois told NBC10 Boston in an interview Thursday.
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Galibois is asking anyone who may have noticed a friend or loved one who was pregnant around April 20 and no longer is to contact them.
"This is a type of case, as you might imagine, pulls on everybody's heartstrings, including mine, my investigators," he said. "It's incredibly emotional. So we're hopeful that ultimately, someone will step up and provide us some information about the well-being, location, and ID of the mom."
Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 508-790-5799.
Authorities don't know specifically how the mother may be connected to Martha's Vineyard — she may have lived there or just have been visiting.
"We are incredibly grateful for the operator for the plant that noticed the baby, and immediately shut it down and allowed our state police detectives to go in and do their work," Galibois said.
Officials have yet to release the results of an examination of the girl's remains.
"We know the post-partum period at the end of the pregnancy can be a really difficult time for women," Noelle Ozimek of the National Safe Haven Alliance told NBC10 Boston Thursday.
While the circumstances of this case are not yet clear, Massachusetts has had a baby safe haven law since 2004 that allows parents to surrender newborn infants 7 days old or younger at a hospital, police station or staffed fire station without facing criminal prosecution.
"They must be relinquished directly to a provider, so you must hand that child to a provider," she said. "Providers are on duty staff at hospitals, fire departments, and law enforcement officers."
