Mystery Maine Boy May Have Been Dumped by Military Member

May 17, 2011 — -- Police believe the person who dumped a little boy's body on a rural Maine road may have connections to the military, and they've enlisted the help of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to help identify the boy.

The eyewitness who spotted a woman driving a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck on Dennett Road the day the boy's body was found said she saw a Navy insignia embossed in or around the truck's license plate.

"We're really starting to wonder if the individual involved with this truck is a member of the military," said Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough. "We're starting to think that way because we just got no information from any neighbors, any family members. ... Maybe these people are ... assigned a temporary duty in the military and aren't that well known or embedded into the community and again would have family outside of the state or outside of the region."

Police are alerting Navy Reserve centers and have also brought Interpol into the investigation as they continue to search for the owner of the blue truck.

Other facts that might hint at a military connection include the boy's clothing. Found fully clothed, the boy had on a gray-colored camouflage hooded sweatshirt and a navy blue T-shirt with "Aviator Series" displayed on the front, police said.

"There's really no explanation for this ... how nobody can report this child is missing. To me, it's unthinkable," McDonough said.

The boy, who's between the ages of 4 and 5, was found in South Berwick, Maine, at around 5 p.m. A passerby who lives in the neighborhood saw the body with a green fleece blanket over it, police said. Police won't say if the body showed signs of trauma.

"He was clean. His fingernails seemed clean and appropriate. He was a small kid, but I don't think he was undernourished. He's a very cute boy, and again, he was clothed well. The sneakers are virtually brand-new on him," McDonough said.

Police hope the boy's "Lightning McQueen" black sneakers inspired by the character in the Pixar movie "Cars" will spark someone's memory.

The State Police Computer Crimes Unit produced a computer-generated photo of the unidentified boy. The boy was 3 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 45 pounds. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. His baby teeth had yet to fall out.

DNA is being taken from the boy's body, and it will be run through databases of missing children. Authorities are also taking mitochondrial DNA from the body in the hope that they can scan it through databases of convicted felons and make family matches.

Police are halfway through investigating more than 200 tips received since the boy's body was found. They've also pored through a dozen tapes of surveillance video and looked at existing missing persons reports for possible matches.

The death has been deemed suspicious, and investigators have not ruled out that this could be a homicide case.

Anyone with information about the boy's identity or the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck spotted in the area should call Maine State Police at 207-657-3030.