Police field calls, but tot remains a mystery
Police say girl can't identify herself
A day after a child was found locked inside a Newark gas station restroom alone and crying, police had received dozens of calls from throughout the region from people offering tips on her identity.
Newark investigators have also contacted police departments as far as Florida, yet officials do not know who she is or her family's whereabouts.
The child, who appears to be 2 years old, has spoken, but has not said enough to identify herself.
"She hasn't been able to give us that information yet," said Joseph Smack, spokesman for the Division of Family Services.
The girl slept through the night at her foster home, where there are two children near her age.
"She seems to be adjusting," Smack said. "But of course we are still actively looking for any family members, anybody who can recognize her and provide us with more information."
The service station's proximity to I-95 is fueling speculation that the child may not be from Delaware.
"I don't think they're thinking she's definitely local," Newark police spokesman Cpl. Paul Keld said, adding that they have received calls from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. "There's a lot of attention being put out there and people are responding."
Since the DiGirolamo case, Delaware has passed legislation making child abandonment a felony punishable by up to five years in prison for abandoning children younger than 14 and up to three years in prison for older children.
Delaware has a "safe haven law," which allows someone to legally relinquish a newborn at an emergency room, but it does not apply in this case because the girl is more than 14 days old and was not handed directly to an employee.
Anyone with information about the child should call Newark police at 366-7111.
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