Over $24,000 Reward Offered to Identify Parents Who Abandoned 3 Siblings as Newborn Babies

A reward of more than $24,000 has been offered in support of a police department’s investigation into three siblings who were each abandoned as babies.

It has been one year since the third sibling, whom authorities named Elsa, was found abandoned in London, and officials are still investigating her abandonment and attempting to locate her parents, Metropolitan Police announced in a Jan. 18 press release.

Elsa was found after someone reported that they had found a newborn baby “wrapped in a towel in a shopping bag” in East London at 9:13 p.m. local time on Jan. 18, 2024, exactly one year before the latest press release, London police said.

After police located the newborn, who was “thankfully uninjured,” she was taken to hospital, where she was later discharged and “placed into the appropriate care,” according to police.

Investigators later discovered that Elsa’s case was not only related to two other cases of newborn abandonment, but that the infant was biologically related to the other two babies, who were found under “similar circumstances” years earlier, in 2017 and 2019.

Her brother, named “Baby Harry,” was found abandoned in a park area in Newham on Sept. 17, 2017, and another child, called “Baby Roman,” was found abandoned by dog walkers in a children’s play park on Jan. 31, 2019, Metropolitan Police previously said. DNA tests had established the three babies were siblings in April 2024.

Authorities are still searching for the children’s parents. To support their investigation, Crimestoppers — a charity that is independent of the police — is offering a reward for information provided anonymously, Metropolitan Police announced on Jan. 18.

“We have carried out extensive inquiries over the past year to try and locate Elsa’s parents,” Detective Inspector Jamie Humm with Metropolitan Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Team said in a statement.

The investigation has been ongoing for six years, however — since Baby Roman was first found — and has “involved reviewing over 450 hours of CCTV and completing a full DNA structure of the mother,” according to Humm. 

Some specialists who have aided in the investigation believe that they have narrowed the area in which the mother and “possibly also” the father of the abandoned infants live: the Plaistow or East Ham area.

“We have serious concerns for the well-being of the parents, especially the mother, and are continuing to work closely with Newham Council and appeal for the public’s help for information,” Humm stated, urging the public to come forward with any information about the kids or their parents.

“I believe that someone in the area will have been aware of the mother’s pregnancies and that within the community there [may] have been concerns for this mother’s welfare. I share these concerns with you so if you have any information, no matter how small it may seem, please contact us,” he continued, noting that authorities “will be able to eliminate any unconnected person quickly and easily, as such I would ask you to contact police with confidence.”

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In particular, Humm said, “Professionals in the area, such as those in health, care, education or the charitable sector,” should consider whether they may have encountered the mother “without realizing it at the time.”

The detective inspector concluded this latest update in the investigation by sharing that Baby Elsa, Harry and Roman are healthy “and well, and we are continuing momentum behind this investigation to identify the parents.”