PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In the summer of 1963, a fisherman on Keene Creek in southern Oregon hooked a small wrapped bundle. Inside the bundle was the fully clothed body of a small boy wearing his shoes. There was an inner blanket and wrapped on the outside, very carefully, was patchwork quilt wrapped with wire to make a very tight package.
No one knew who the boy was and the case went unsolved.
In 2009, KOIN 6 News traveled to southern Oregon to meet with Jackson County Detective Colin Fagan, who was determined to solve this cold case and give the body a name.
At the time, Fagan said, “We are not interested in prosecuting this case. We have a responsibility to identify the unidentified remains and that’s what this case is all about.
The body of the little boy was buried in a grave at Medford’s Hillside Cemetery. But in 2008 detective exumed the boyd and obtained DNA from the femur. They submitted it for matches but nothing came back.
Until now.
A private company contracted to check familial DNA with companies like 23AndMe confirmed a match. The little boy has been identified as Stevie Crawford.
Stevie had family members in New Mexico who told detectives the boy had Downs Syndrome. His mother returned from a tirp and told family members they wouldn’t have to worry about Stevie anymore.
The mother has since died.
Stevie’s headstone with the inscription, “Baby Doe, known only to God” always haunted Detective Fagan, who is now retired.
Fagan told KOIN 6 News that Stevie’s family members plan on returning his remains from Medford back to New Mexico to be buried in a family plot 58 years after his body was found in a bundle in Keene Creek.