Malibu Baby Doe: Investigators seek info in troubling cold case

The unsolved mystery of Baby Jane Doe is one that Los Angeles County Sheriff's Cold Case Investigator Paul Mondry can't shake.

A tiny girl, around 2 years old, washed up on the pristine beaches of Malibu, California 20 years ago, found by tourists strolling along the sand.

Even though the tiny body was decomposed, her remains offered some clues to investigators, who would not give up on her case.

Her skeletal remains offer even more clues.

"There was a subdural hematoma which would be consistent with shaken infant trauma," said Mondry.

And a condition called BPD that sadly may have made her a challenging child to care for.

"People would tend to remember a child that might have had more medical problems than the average child," said Mondry.

Police now hope her unique traits might even spark a memory that eventually leads to a tip.

So does this Debi Faris never knew the child she calls "Dora" when the girl was alive, but she takes her death very personally.

She didn't learn about Dora until after she saw a story on the news about another baby, discarded in a duffel bag on the side of the highway.

Horrified, Faris reached out to the sheriff's department and asked if she could give the child a proper burial, thinking it was the least she could do.

When she was referred to the coroner's office, she found out discarded babies aren't as rare as it would seem.

"They let me know there was another little baby boy that was brought in, a newborn baby boy who had been found in a Dumpster," said Faris.

Then they told her about Dora.

"They said 'Mrs. Faris, we also wanted to tell you that we have the body of a little girl,'" said Faris. "And I felt like I needed to do something."

That something started out as a simple gesture that has turned into a life mission: Giving tiny victims a final resting place.

"These children were not going to be just thrown away and forgotten as if they never ever existed on this Earth," said Faris.

This peaceful place soon became the Garden of Angels for more than 100 abandoned babies that no one else has claimed.

"She gave them an identity and made them relevant, made them matter," said Mondry.

And now, even though she says her calling is caring for the babies that were discarded, her true passion is keeping others from coming here.

"We wanted these mothers to know if they were desperate and afraid and confused, that it was much better for them to take their child to a hospital or a fire station, rather than to a Dumpster or a trash can," said Faris.

So, with the help of a California state senator, she created the Safe Surrender Program to allow women to leave their newborn babies at a secure place with no questions asked.

"It's just empowering people to think about doing the right thing for all the right reasons," said Faris. "It gives their child the gift of their love and also a gift of life."

But still, just after the law was enacted, and Debi Faris hoped no other children would come her way, she buried another baby in the Garden of Angels.

"We buried this little boy, but also on that very same day there was another little boy that was safely surrendered," said Faris. "They were both named Jacob."

Of all the children she's cared for, one baby, older than the rest, hangs heaviest on her heart, and still haunts her.

"There's something really about Dora that I can't let go of," said Faris. "What was her story? Was she kidnapped, was she just murdered and thrown away? And it's almost as if she keeps calling to me. It's really a calling to me to help her in a way, be identified."

For Dora and for the others, there's hope that time, new technology or a tip will offer a breakthrough and identify all these babies that before coming here had no name and no place to go.

"Where they were found was in the most horrific places, trash cans, buried in shallow graves. Toilets. Just really horrible places, and that's not where I want these children to rest," said Faris. "I want them to rest in a place that surrounds them with love."

Los Angeles Coroner investigators Gilda Tolbert, Denise Bertone, Dan Machian, Sheriff's Cold Case investigator Dick Kennerly, and NCMEC investigator Bill Gleason all have worked tirelessly to try identify "Baby Dora" and others who have passed without an identity.

Further resources:

• NCMEC National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

• NaMus National Missing and Unidentified Persons System