Abandoned Newborn Not Related to Missing Ohio Woman

June 22, 2007 — -- A newborn baby girl discovered on a doorstep of a home about 45 miles from where Jessie Davis -- the pregnant Ohio woman who has been missing for more than a week -- lived is not the missing woman's child, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department reported.

The infant girl was discovered in a wicker basket at a home in Wooster, Ohio, Tuesday, giving the case of the missing 26-year-old woman yet another bizarre twist. The sheriff's department has identified the baby girl's mother as a 30-year-old Franklin Township woman.

The baby is at Wooster Community Hospital and is in good condition.

About 1,800 volunteers turned out near Canton, Ohio, Thursday to search for Davis. Another strong turnout of searchers, eager for some clues about the woman's fate, was expected today.

Davis' mother, Patty Porter, said today on "Good Morning America" that the show of support had been "absolutely overwhelming."

"We're going to find who did this, and we're going to find my daughter," Porter said.

Her family is convinced that foul play was involved in Davis' disappearance.

"I know she didn't leave," Porter said. "I know everything she is about my daughter. She really was my best friend."

A Thursday night prayer vigil capped off the day of searching.

Porter said that the family was doing its best to hold things together, and that Davis' son, 2-year-old Blake, was helping to keep the family going.

"He's an amazing child," Porter said. "He has periods where he just lays his head down on the couch and has a horrible look of sadness. Then the next moment he'll have a beautiful big smile."

A canine search unit alerted the FBI to a suspicious mound of dirt that appeared to be freshly dug, but a search revealed no evidence of a body.

"It turned out to be a marijuana grove, that's all it was," said one police officer.

Searchers are hoping for better luck today as they turn to sonar detection and drone airplane surveillance.

Authorities have twice searched the home of Bobby Cutts Jr., the father of Davis' children, though he has not been named as a suspect.

Cutts spoke exclusively to the Repository, an Ohio newspaper, saying that he'd be naive to think he wasn't a suspect.

"I haven't been myself. I can't sleep. I can't eat," Cutts told the paper. "It's been hell. This is like a movie. I'm just numb. I cry, I stare into space. I don't know — it's not real. It doesn't seem like it's real."