'Never Forgotten:' Baby Mary's Legacy In The Mendham Community

MENDHAM, NJ — Every Christmas Eve, a sense of melancholy surrounds the Mendham community as many residents recall the brief life and unsettling discovery of Baby Mary, which shocked the quiet community nearly four decades ago.

On Dec. 24, 1984, Baby Mary was a newborn when she was abandoned in trash bags beside a waterfall off Mount Pleasant Road, where she died of exposure. Her body was discovered by two young boys fishing at Woodland Lake in Dismal Harmony Park around noon that day.

Since then, her short life and her tragic death have weighed heavy on the minds and hearts of the Mendham Township Police Department and the community.

For the past four decades, police officers have worked relentlessly in the hopes of solving the town's longest-standing mystery.

On Thursday, Sept. 7, answers were finally revealed as the identity of Baby Mary's parents' was announced, along with an official charge in the homicide case.

The mother, who was 17 at the time, was charged in April with one count of manslaughter, authorities said.

Since she was a minor in 1984, her identity has not been released, but authorities noted she had been living in South Carolina and is “being monitored.”

The police stated that public information on the woman was very limited due to the nature of the case. However, both parents lived in Morris County at the time of Baby Mary's birth, and the mother was enrolled in a local school in 1984, according to Carroll.

The baby’s father died in 2009, and police believe he was not made aware of Baby Mary's existence and death.

"It has been an amazing experience to be a part of this case in the past nine years since Chief Crawford reordered the examination of the case along with MCPO and MCSO," Chief Ross Johnson told Patch. "The collaboration on this case with our department, our prosecutor's office and the sheriff’s office, and many other law enforcement entities is the reason we are where we are today. It is incredibly rewarding to know that after all this hard work and dedication, we could bring justice to this infant and to the case."

Since 1987, officers from the Mendham Township Police Department and members of the public have gathered at Mary's grave on Christmas Eve to honor her and her life.

The idea was born after Mendham Township's Chaplain, Father Michael Drury, came to the police and coordinated the adoption of Baby Mary and set up what is now her grave and headstone.

"We always try to have a presence of officers there every year, no matter the weather, to ensure she is never forgotten," Johnson said.

With the completion of her case, Johnson noted that, while no official decision has been made, he intends to continue this annual Christmas Eve service in some form in the future in order to bring the community together.

"This is a case that is still talked about regularly, especially by those who were around and affected by it when it happened and those who have learned about it over the years. Not a year has gone by, especially around the holidays, where I have not been contacted or asked about the case. There are a number of people from our community who come to the service every year as well as coordinate and ensure the grave site is well taken care of and maintained," Johnson said.