Police have conducted a second search of an old Los Angeles apartment building basement where the remains of two human fetuses wrapped in 1930s newspapers were found in an abandoned steamer trunk, a property manager said Thursday.
Detectives brought dogs Wednesday afternoon to sniff around the basement of the Glen-Donald Apartments in the Westlake district west of downtown after the two fetuses were found there earlier this week, said Diane Dudasik.
Police used a moving van to take away items that were initially left behind after the fetuses were found Tuesday night, including the steamer trunk, two resident ledgers and various personal items that were inside, Dudasik said.
The trunk was inscribed with the initials JMB and inside were items with the name Jean M. Barrie and two doctor-style bags containing the fetuses wrapped in old newspapers.
Police had initially left the trunks, a membership certificate to the once-posh Big Bear Peter Pan Woodland Club written out to "Miss Jean Barrie," and a typewriting manual bearing her signature. They also took ticket stubs from the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, wedding photos and other items.
Investigators are working to solve the mystery of the abandoned fetuses and learn who Jean M. Barrie was, particularly because of an odd fact: Peter Pan was created by Scottish author James M. Barrie, who died in 1937.
Craig Harvey, the chief coroner investigator, said the skeletal remains are under examination but would not further disclose details on the case. The LAPD referred questions to the coroner.
Investigators trying to determine the identity of the fetuses will have their work cut out for them given the age and tiny size, said Mitchell Holland, director of forensic science at Pennsylvania State University.
"It really will depend on the level of decay and decomposition of the remains," Holland said. "If they're in relatively good condition, they'll get a result."
Determining basic information including ages, sex and cause of death for the two newspaper-wrapped fetuses will be a challenge because fetal skeletons are underdeveloped and fragile, he said. Holland said figuring out whether the fetuses were related to one another, or to the mysterious woman in whose belongings they were discovered, will be even more difficult despite advances in science.
Investigators' best bet would be to use a mitochondrial DNA test, which is the most sensitive type of test appropriate for the case, Holland said. The test can indicate whether the fetuses are maternally linked, but investigators would have to destroy some of the bones in the process.
Linking them to James M. Barrie, the Peter Pan author, is another feat because he's dead, Holland said.
Investigators would have to build a separate profile for the Scottish Peter Pan scribe cross-reference it against the fetuses. But they'd have to disinter the body first, he said.
"At this point, we're talking 75 to 80 years ago. Presumably if somebody was of age to father a child, they would have to be in their 90s and the likelihood of them being alive is pretty thin," Holland said.
The 94-unit Glen-Donald building was home to doctors, lawyers, writers and actors when it opened in 1925. It featured a grand lobby and its basement had once been a ballroom and the site of elaborate galas.
Two women, including the onsite manager, were cleaning out the basement of the building when the stumbled upon the fetuses. One fetus was wrapped in a 1935 newspaper, the other in a 1932 paper.
