http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/Memory_of_baby_found_dead_haunts_town.htmlMemory of baby found dead haunts townWeb Posted: 01/23/2010 12:00 CST
ZEKE MacCORMACK/zeke@express-news.net
New flowers and figurines regularly adorn the grave of the newborn girl found dead on Oct. 23, 1993, in McCulloch County, Sheriff Earl Howell says.By Zeke MacCormack - Express-News
“They took her lifeless body to the local funeral home. Though nobody claimed her, she was never there alone. All the town folk came to see her, for they all wanted to know, the mystery behind the death of Baby Jane Doe.”— Lyrics from “Baby Jane Doe” by Frank Torres.
BRADY — Tears of sorrow mingled with cries for justice when a newborn girl's corpse was discovered in a bag beside a rural road Oct. 23, 1993.
“It had a very large emotional impact on the community,” recalled Earl Howell, who then was chief deputy and now is sheriff of McCulloch County.
Hundreds turned out to see the abandoned baby buried in a donated casket, but the intense interest spurred no solid leads for frustrated investigators.
As the case of “Baby Jane Doe” grew cold, despite periodic tips that failed to pan out, locals grew ever more anxious that the deadly mystery wouldn't be solved.
“I never thought they would find whoever did it,” said Annette Solis, 37, a store clerk in this town 140 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Despite a lack of progress, the tragedy still resonated here to the beat of a tune penned by local musician Frank Torres.
“Everybody said it's a beautiful song, but it's a sad song. It made them cry,” said Torres, 66.
Finally, nearly 11 years after Baby Jane Doe was found, fingerprints on the bags that held her, a placenta and blood were matched to a daughter of a county resident, and a DNA test identified her as the mother, Howell said.
The suspect, Lisa Huro LeClair of Irving, claimed no knowledge of the baby found off FM 765 the prior decade, records show.
“She just denied the whole thing,” Howell said.
Despite those denials, LeClair was charged with murder in a 2004 indictment that alleged she'd failed “to seek medical care following birth, which she had a duty to provide.”
Now 39 and a mother of three, she's been free on $50,000 bail pending trial, which had been scheduled to start Tuesday but is delayed by the death of an expert witness for the defense. It hasn't been reset.
Howell counts himself lucky the Texas Department of Public Safety dispatched an officer on the case to test evidence, noting: “It wasn't common for us to even do DNA testing.”
Satisfaction among locals over LeClair's arrest gave way to impatience as years passed without a resolution due, in part, to her changing lawyers.
“People would like to see justice,” said James Stewart, editor of the Brady Standard-Herald. “It's gone on for so long, with so many delays, most people don't know if it will ever go to trial. That's the big question.”
The judge moved the jury trial to Kerrville after defense attorney Melvin Gray filed a motion that said “a dangerous combination against this defendant instigated by influential persons” exists in McCulloch County.
Beside seeking a continuance to allow him to find a new expert, motions filed Jan. 7 by Gray asked the court to suppress LeClair's statements, to set aside the indictment and to dismiss the case.
Whether Baby Jane Doe was alive at birth is expected to be a central issue at trial.
“The defense expert says it's hard to prove the baby was born alive. The state expert said it was,” Howell said.
District Attorney Amos Barton predicted the trial will be “a dogfight,” saying: “It's challenging any time you get an old case and a battle of experts.”
In arguing for a dismissal, Gray claims LeClair's rights were violated during interrogation, that the indictment is flawed and that evidence is lacking that the baby was born alive.
He also says no statutory duty exists for a woman to seek medical care when giving birth.
Those motions were called “relatively standard” by Barton, who opposed the continuance granted this month by 198th state District Judge Rex Emerson.
Neither LeClair, a San Angelo native, nor Gray could be reached.
Howell said the father of Baby Jane Doe hasn't been identified.