Times Staff Report

GARY | The Lake County coroner's office will likely rule the death of a newborn infant found eight months ago as a homicide, a coroner's official said Tuesday.

Deputy Coroner Jeffrey Wells said his office has been unable to identify the parents of a child found abandoned in a vacant midtown house in Gary.

A member of the public found the body of "Baby Doe" on Oct. 9 at 1828 Georgia St., the coroner's office reported. The remains consisted of bones, some hair and mummified skin.

There is no indication the child suffered any trauma, and there is no estimate of how long the child had been dead, Wells said. It had been carried to full term, delivered and abandoned.

Wells said an examination by Stephen Nawrocki, a forensic anthropologist from the University of Indianapolis, failed to develop any more evidence that could aid in solving the case.

"With the house being vacant, there is nobody to pin it on," Wells said.