The possibility exists that someone — or some persons — in Blair County or somewhere else in the region might be feeling much anxiety or outright fear today as a result of an announcement last week by this county’s coroner and the Pennsylvania State Police.

For the benefit of anyone who might have missed the announcement, Coroner Ray Benton and the state police revealed that the unidentified partial remains of a child found deceased on Feb. 5, 1987, in a wooded area between Pinecroft and Bellwood had been exhumed on June 10 with the purpose of attempting to obtain DNA evidence.

Authorities hope the sought-after evidence will produce answers eventually regarding the child’s identity and the circumstances surrounding her death, which then-Blair Coroner Charles Burkey ruled a homicide by unknown means.

Thus the reason why someone here or nearby with DNA ties to the child might be feeling increasingly uneasy about what heretofore unknown information — evidence — the exhumation might expose.

Or, perhaps, the baby’s remains were brought here from some faraway place and the case might remain unsolved forever. At this point in time, the only certainty is that authorities will be using the most up-to-date scientific methods and means to try to unlock the decades-long secrets that have stymied the case up to now.

For the benefit of people who were not alive in 1987, or too young to understand what the case was and remains about, including how the child came to be named Baby Agnes Doe, the Knights of Columbus of St. Gregory’s Council in Tyrone offered to bury the child if no one claimed her.

On June 20, 1987, the Knights buried the child, naming her Agnes after the Roman Catholic saint by the same name.

Agnes, the saint, who was a wealthy young woman prior to her death, was martyred in ancient Rome and now is regarded by the Church as the patron saint of little girls.

According to a June 11 Mirror article, the exhumation of the child’s body is part of an effort being funded by a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant to the University of South Florida. The person or persons responsible for the child’s death do not deserve continuance of the peace of mind enjoyed over the years because of the assumption that the case would defy being brought to a successful conclusion.

DNA science has cut a huge hole in that long-held assumption, as Philadelphia’s “Boy in the Box Mystery,” which began in February 1957, made clear. Advances in DNA and online genealogy records yielded the child’s name in December 2022.

Hopefully, an equally successful outcome will emerge in the local Baby Agnes Doe case. Hopefully, also, the person or persons responsible for Agnes’ death, if still alive, will be dealt with appropriately by authorities for what was inflicted on this child — being treated almost as if she were garbage, not a human being.

Tyrone Mayor William Latchford summed up appropriately the case surrounding this child, as follows:

“It’s very important to a lot of people. It’s a sad story, but it would be wonderful to have an ID to the person that so many care about.”

At the time of her death, this child no doubt had a name.

The challenge is to not give up until it is found, no matter the fear and anxiety enkindled.

— Altoona Mirror