Sorting staff at a Utica recycling plant made a devastating discovery earlier this week when they spotted a newborn girl directly on a moving conveyor belt carrying mixed recyclable materials. The infant, believed to be about one to two weeks old, was found at approximately 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday inside the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority facility, and workers immediately halted sorting operations and called law enforcement.
Police Captain Michael Curley confirmed the timeline and circumstances of the discovery, according to WIBX 950. Emergency responders and detectives from the Utica Police Department's Major Crimes Unit responded to the facility at 824 Sewage Plant Road in North Utica, as reported by WKRC. Investigators have not yet determined how the infant died or how she came to be inside the plant's sorting system, and an autopsy is expected to help answer both questions.
At a news conference Thursday, Utica Police Chief Mark Williams made a direct and compassionate plea to the baby's birth mother. Per retro80s247.com, Williams said law enforcement wants to hear her story and ensure the newborn receives a proper burial, a message investigators paired with the acknowledgment that the mother may have panicked or faced extreme personal hardship.
Tracing a Load Through a Five-County System
Pinpointing how the infant ended up on the conveyor belt is complicated by the sheer scale of the facility's operations. The plant's single-stream processing system, built in 2011, has handled approximately 900,000 tons of recyclable material since the curbside program began in 1991, according to the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority. Beyond the two counties it primarily serves, the facility also processes recyclables from outside the region.
That regional reach means detectives are reviewing delivery schedules, surveillance footage, and other records in an effort to trace which load entered the sorting area, the station's report notes. Police say they may also consider forensic genealogy testing to help identify the infant if other leads do not pan out. The New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office are assisting the Utica Police Department with the case, and authorities have not yet determined whether criminal charges are warranted.
New York's Safe Haven Law Offers an Alternative
The case has renewed attention on New York's Abandoned Infant Protection Act, which allows a parent to anonymously surrender a newborn up to 30 days old without facing criminal prosecution, so long as the baby is left at a safe location such as a hospital, police station, or staffed firehouse. The law, enacted in 2000 and expanded in 2010, according to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, originally applied only to infants five days old or younger before lawmakers broadened its scope.
State legislators have continued pushing to modernize the option. In May 2025, New York State Assembly Bill A8649 proposed climate-controlled surrender boxes at staffed emergency facilities. Safe-haven laws offer parents a way to surrender infants safely.
This is not the first such case in New York this year. In August, first responders rescued an abandoned newborn left in a retail restroom in White Plains after a ShopRite discovery, a case that prompted police there to issue statewide reminders about safe haven protections. That infant survived after being rapidly transferred to a local hospital, according to the City of White Plains Department of Public Safety.
How to Report Information
Oneida County investigators are asking the infant's birth mother or anyone with information about the case to come forward. Tips can be submitted directly to the Utica Police Department's Major Crimes Unit or anonymously through Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers at 1-866-730-8477 or via the P3 Tips app, per the same account from WIBX 950.
