Georgia has finally found closure on a long-standing cold case. According to Athens police, a University of Georgia student who later committed himself is to blame for the baby’s death on the campus of the university.
“I’m not sure how you describe. You might have heard that it’s done, but in reality, Chuck Horton, the former University of Georgia Police Chief, stated, “It’s actually not over.”
Horton’s career’s worst day was when he discovered a baby boy dead in a restroom of a University of Georgia dorm. Horton claims that the infant had just begun to breathe when he was killed.
It’s really uncommon to witness this much trauma in a child murder, he said.
Horton and the Athens neighborhood have been plagued by unanswered questions about who and why for decades.
DNA evidence, according to police records, accuses the mother, Kathryn Grant. Grant was a student at UGA who dropped out after the baby died and moved to South Carolina.
She killed herself in 2004.
Former University of Georgia student and host of the Classic Crime podcast Cameron Jay remarked, “I believe a lot of the community felt like they were the child’s family too.”
Hundreds of listeners, according to Jay, contacted him about the news and the sense of closure it has given them.
Nevertheless, Jay added, “But there’s also a tremendous grief I feel in the classic city today, a deep sadness for the death of the infant of course, but also a deep pity for even the mother of this scenario.”
Horton believes the lesson we should take up from this tragedy is this:
“I just wish those in need would strive to seek assistance. Speak to someone; they’ll be able to assist you. This is not required of you, he said.
A spokesman for UGA sent the following comment to Atlanta News First:
I appreciate the commitment of everyone who has worked on this project, including the UGA Police Department staff as well as our collaborators like the researchers at Othram, Inc.
As even as I acknowledge the need of resolving this case, I also have to acknowledge how awful the tragedy that occurred was. I believe it is crucial not to lose sight of it. When this happened in 1996, I was an officer on patrol in Athens. I have been moved by the outpouring of care and concern from the UGA community and beyond. I am well aware of the attention the case has attracted over the years.
The combined efforts of two generations of police officers and detectives—those who responded immediately after the initial event and investigated it there and the follow-up efforts of detectives in the intervening decades—and especially over the last two years—have allowed us to close the case, which is a significant development. Although the technology required to solve the case in 1996 did not yet exist, there is little doubt that the thorough background research carried out by the initial investigation team was essential to reaching this conclusion.