PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police on Thursday announced major developments in the cold case homicide of an infant found at a recycling center in 2013. Detectives were not only able to identify the girl, previously known only as "Baby Precious," but arrested and charged the baby's father in connection with her death.
Officers from the Portland Police Bureau were called to a recycling center on Swan Island on May 28, 2013, after an infant's body was discovered at the facility. The county medical examiner determined that the newborn baby girl's death was a homicide.
Despite widespread community concern and outreach by both PPB and Crimestoppers of Oregon, police said that "Baby Precious" remained unidentified and the case went cold.
The case was transferred over to PPB's cold case unit in 2019, with Detective Brandan McGuire taking lead on the case. PPB said that McGuire sent DNA samples to Bode Technology, a private forensics lab that has helped the agency with forensic genealogy in the past. While it did not immediately produce any leads, McGuire learned in December 2021 that an anonymous family connection had been found.
It took another year-and-a-half before detectives were able to identify Baby Precious, whose real name was Amara, as well as her mother and father.
This month, Multnomah County prosecutors took evidence from the case to a grand jury. On Sept. 18, the grand jury approved a secret indictment of Amara's father, 53-year-old Alnath Omar Oliver of Portland, on two counts of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, third-degree rape and concealing the birth of an infant.
A team from the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Oliver on Thursday, booking him into the Multnomah County Detention Center on an arrest warrant.
In a press briefing, Detective McGuire said that Amara's mother had been 15 years old at the time of the child's birth, while Oliver was in his 40s. Oliver allegedly prevented the mother from seeking any sort of health care during her pregnancy, and she gave birth on the floor of Oliver's apartment. She believed that Oliver had taken the baby to the hospital after that.
Oliver told investigators that baby Amara died while he was walking to the hospital, McGuire said, and he's believed to have placed her body in a recycling container.
Under Oregon law, parents of an infant 30 days old or younger can be surrendered at a hospital, birthing clinic, physician's office, sheriff's office, police station, fire station, or county health department and will not face any criminal penalties as long as there is no evidence of abuse. Whoever leaves a newborn does not have to provide any identifying information.
“While we continue to mourn the death of baby Amara, we hope this significant announcement helps our community with the healing process from this tragedy,” said Chief Chuck Lovell in a statement. “I want to express my appreciation for the tenacity of the investigators in this case, and the determination they had to seek justice for ‘Baby Precious.’”
PPB acknowledged that the three investigators from the agency's cold case unit had been reassigned to homicide in April 2022 by Chief Lovell as the city grappled with record homicides. Regardless, detectives kept working on their cold cases "as they were able" in the meantime.
"The Portland Police Bureau recognizes the resolution of every homicide case is important for the family and community," the agency said. "With the assistance of our partners at the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory and the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, we will continue to seek justice for those victims that have no voice."