The town of Somersworth, New Hampshire, is a peaceful place, immune to the endemic violence that has blighted larger cities in the years since World War II. It is a place of simple pleasures, a traditional respect for God and country, unaccustomed to the limelight of publicity. That changed in April 1982, when residents Earl and Ruth Davis opened an old steamer trunk in their basement, releasing the contents of a grim Pandora's box. The trunk had lain unopened in the dust and damp for 20 years, ever since Shirley Thomas -- a friend from nearby Rochester -- had asked the Davises to store it for her, pleading lack of space. Curiosity finally got the better of Ruth Davis, and she recruited her husband's help to spring the rusty locks on April 6, 1982. Inside, they found four tiny suitcases, each containing the mummified remains of a newborn infant, wrapped in local newspapers spanning the years between 1949 and 1952. Authorities speculated that the infants may have been slain in a cold-blooded ''baby-snuffing'' scheme, with unwed mothers giving up babies for adoption to someone who killed them instead. New Hampshire State Attorney General Gregory Smith declined to prosecute Shirley Thomas, believing the trunk was entrusted to her by a deceased third party. Somersworth Police Chief Ronald Perron summed up the local feelings of shock in a comment to Newsweek reporters. "It's almost too bizarre to be true," he remarked. "You don't think these things happen in our part of the country -- maybe down South." On November 27, 1988, the New Hampshire state attorney general's office released an investigative report on the case, hoping that new leads might develop through publicity. In that report, pathologists describe the four infants as newborn or premature babies, suggesting that an unidentified "piece of metal" found in the trunk may have been an abortion tool. According to former co-workers, the trunk's original owner often looked pregnant but never had children. To date, no arrests have been made in the case, and none are anticipated.
The town of Somersworth, New Hampshire, is a peaceful place, immune to the endemic violence that has blighted larger cities in the years since World War II. It is a place of simple pleasures, a traditional respect for God and country, unaccustomed to the limelight of publicity. That changed in April 1982, when residents Earl and Ruth Davis opened an old steamer trunk in their basement, releasing the contents of a grim Pandora's box. The trunk had lain unopened in the dust and damp for 20 years, ever since Shirley Thomas -- a friend from nearby Rochester -- had asked the Davises to store it for her, pleading lack of space. Curiosity finally got the better of Ruth Davis, and she recruited her husband's help to spring the rusty locks on April 6, 1982. Inside, they found four tiny suitcases, each containing the mummified remains of a newborn infant, wrapped in local newspapers spanning the years between 1949 and 1952. Authorities speculated that the infants may have been slain in a cold-blooded ''baby-snuffing'' scheme, with unwed mothers giving up babies for adoption to someone who killed them instead. New Hampshire State Attorney General Gregory Smith declined to prosecute Shirley Thomas, believing the trunk was entrusted to her by a deceased third party. Somersworth Police Chief Ronald Perron summed up the local feelings of shock in a comment to Newsweek reporters. "It's almost too bizarre to be true," he remarked. "You don't think these things happen in our part of the country -- maybe down South." On November 27, 1988, the New Hampshire state attorney general's office released an investigative report on the case, hoping that new leads might develop through publicity. In that report, pathologists describe the four infants as newborn or premature babies, suggesting that an unidentified "piece of metal" found in the trunk may have been an abortion tool. According to former co-workers, the trunk's original owner often looked pregnant but never had children. To date, no arrests have been made in the case, and none are anticipated. |
