CINCINNATI — Officials have identified a toddler whose body was found charred in a field in Springfield Township nearly a half-century ago, but investigators say they still need to solve the rest of the mystery.
Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said in a press conference Friday that 18-month-old Velina Jeter was the child, dubbed the "Cincinnati Baby Angel," found dead in a field off Eiler Lane on Feb. 4, 1979.
"I think the important point here is that a lot of people think cold cases mean they're cold and that nobody's working on them and that they're just forgotten, and that just isn't the case," Sammarco said.
After the toddler's body was discovered, Sammarco said forensic anthropology was able to determine the baby's sex, race and possible age. Her cause of death was determined to be a subdural hematoma from head trauma.
In 2008, the body was exhumed to get DNA information. It was sent to the Ohio BCI, which put together a profile that investigators could work off of.
From there, investigators spent years searching for the right identity. Cincinnati Police Specialists Jeff Smallwood and Heather Saidler said Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy led them to the right child: Velina Jeter.
Jeter was born in Columbus on June 10, 1977, to Sharon Jeter and Barry Lee Valentine. Both parents have since died — the mother in 2013 and the father in 2011.
While investigators have her identity, they still don't know how Velina ended up in Cincinnati. Living relatives were notified, but none were sure why she was in the area.
"We still don't know what happened and how she wound up in the field," Smallwood said. "We're still looking for everything, still looking at everything."
Sammarco called the situation a "complex domestic situation" and said it was not clear who had custody of her at the time of her death. Investigators said neither parent is suspected of being involved in the girl's death.
Anyone with information that could help investigators identify a suspect is encouraged to reach out with any information, even if it feels insignificant to them.
