Canton, Ohio – A newborn girl with her umbilical cord still attached was found in a basket on a doorstep 45 miles from where a pregnant woman vanished, authorities said Tuesday.
A DNA sample was taken from the infant Tuesday and was given to authorities investigating the disappearance.
Thomas Maurer, sheriff in neighboring Wayne County, said that the baby was less than 24 hours old and that officials are using “every caution we can” to eliminate the possibility that the baby is related to the missing woman, Jessie Davis.
Davis, 26, who is due July 3 with a baby she planned to name Chloe, has not been heard from since last Wednesday evening when she spoke to her mother by phone.
A couple arriving home from dinner Monday night discovered the newborn on the porch of their rural home south of Wooster, Maurer said. The baby was dressed in a sleeper. The wicker basket contained a blanket and a bottle of formula, but there was no note, he said.
Davis was reported missing Friday when her mother, Patricia Porter, went to Davis’ house in nearby North Canton to check on her and found her grandson, 2-year-old Blake Davis, alone, wearing a dirty diaper in a home with furniture askew. A pool of bleach was on the bedroom floor, and the contents of Davis’ purse were scatted in the kitchen. Her cellphone and a comforter were missing.
Blake told police: “Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy’s in the rug.”
The father of Davis’ son and unborn girl is Canton police patrolman Bobby Cutts Jr. He is estranged from his wife, with whom he has at least one other child. Authorities searched his northeast Ohio home over the weekend and again Monday night. Officials say they have no suspects in the disappearance.
Cutts has refused to talk about the case with reporters and is now on leave from his job.
Cutts shared the parenting duties for their 2-year-old son with Davis, said John Miller, president of the Canton patrolmen’s union. Also the father of Davis’ unborn daughter, he juggled parenthood with the demands of his patrol job on the midnight shift, Miller said.
“He’s a good officer,” Miller said. “He’s got no problems at work. He treats people well.”
In 1998, he was sentenced to three years’ probation for disorderly conduct after a former girlfriend accused him of breaking a door jamb and forcing his way into their home, according to a police report from nearby Jackson Township.
Davis’ family has declined to talk about her relationship with Cutts. Her father, Ned, held back tears Tuesday in an interview, saying he’s trying to block out all emotion and focus on his daughter’s safe return.
“I’m a dad that wants his daughter back,” he said.
