More than 100 people attended a Celebration of Life for the girl known as "Baby Madison" at the Madisonville Cemetery Chapel on Tuesday. She was buried 10 years after her skeletal remains were found in a black suitcase off Interstate 45 north of Madisonville. Madison County Judge Clark Osborne proclaimed Oct. 27 as Baby Madison Day.
Road crews found the suitcase in September 2016. Inside was the body of a girl believed to be 2 to 5 years old, wrapped in a trash bag and wearing a pink dress with butterflies. Her cause of death is unknown, but the case was ruled a homicide. No family has come forward.
Lt. Chelsea Stanford of the Madison County Sheriff's Office, who has led the case since 2021, said forensic testing has shown ties to El Salvador and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She said the team now has the data needed for investigative genetic genealogy. "We will solve this case and we will know Baby Madison's real name," Stanford said.
Her headstone will read "Baby Madison" until she is identified. Anyone with information is asked to call the Madison County Sheriff's Office at (936) 348-2755 ext. 322 or the FBI's Houston Field Office at (713) 693-5000.