JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Police on Thursday said they have stopped searching for the remains of a Jersey City baby thrown out in a hospital's trash.
Authorities have been looking for the body of Bashere Davon Moyd Jr. since Jan. 2, when it was discovered missing from the morgue at Christ Hospital.
The remains were apparently thrown away with the hospital's trash sometime between Dec. 21 and Jan. 2, police said. The search was moved to Kentucky this week because railcars may have transported the waste there. But ultimately, it proved too difficult to continue, Police Chief Thomas Comey said Thursday.
``We have come to the harsh reality that efforts to locate the remains of Bashere Davon Moyd Jr. would be a Herculean undertaking with little probability of a successful conclusion,'' Comey said in a statement posted Thursday afternoon on the department's Web site.
Police were searching a landfill in Ashland, Ky., where the waste may have been transferred. On Wednesday, Comey said he was fearful the waste was sent elsewhere and may have been incinerated.
Hospital officials and police have declined to say exactly how the baby ended up in the trash.
``The investigation failed to uncover any evidence of criminal conduct, but rather indicated this unfortunate incident was the result of procedural deficiencies and human error,'' Comey said.
The baby was delivered Dec. 21. Hospital officials say the baby was stillborn, but the mother, 26-year-old Kalynn Moore, said her son was born alive with a weak heartbeat and died about 20 minutes later as doctors tried to save him.
However, funeral home employees did not arrive to claim the baby's body from the hospital for 12 days. Michael Anise, the Jersey City attorney representing the child's mother, Kalynn Moore, attributed the delay to the need to navigate Medicaid procedures.
Whether the child was stillborn is an important legal distinction because New Jersey law does not recognize stillborn babies as human. During a news conference in his office late Thursday afternoon, Anise skirted a question about whether the baby was alive when Moore held him at the hospital.
Anise has said that a lawsuit is likely. He maintained that there is no reason for the body of a fetus to have been thrown into the trash.
"The news we have been dreading has unfortunately been confirmed,'' Anise said as his client stood next to him, dressed in black and staring at the floor while holding Anise's hand. "Everyone involved in this horrific act must be held accountable. Obviously, for Kalynn, life will never be the same.''
Moore said nothing and declined to answer questions from reporters.
"She is truly hurting inside, but she will go forward because this cannot happen to another family,'' Anise said.
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