FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Raymond Worrall
PHONE: (201) 795-6400 Ext. 6737
EMAIL: rworrall@hcpo.org
TWITTER: @HCPOProsecutor
WEB: hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org
DATE: Monday, April 23, 2018
INFANT FOUND DEAD NEAR TRAIN TRACKS IN JERSEY CITY IDENTIFIED, FATHER ARRESTED
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez released the following information:
The infant who was found by Port Authority employees dead in a suitcase in Jersey City on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, has been positively identified as Te’Myah Layauna Plummer who was born on May 19, 2016, in Richmond, Virginia. The investigation as to the exact nature of the infant’s death is still pending, but the preliminary investigation has led law enforcement to believe that Te’Myah Plummer died out-of-state.
During the investigation, Homicide Investigators from the Prosecutor’s Office were contacted by the Richmond Police Department regarding a missing child case that they were currently investigating involving Te’Myah Plummer and her father, Travis Lamont Plummer. Her father was subsequently tracked by investigators to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was arrested without incident by FBI agents on April 19, and is currently awaiting extradition proceedings to Hudson County.
Plummer, age 37, of Richmond, has been charged by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit with Desecrating Human Remains in violation of N.J.S. 2C:22-1a(1), a second-degree crime.
On April 11, shortly after 12:30 p.m., the Port Authority Police Department received a report of suspected human remains being recovered near the train tracks underneath the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge, just off Broadway in Jersey City. The suspected human remains were found in a suitcase by Port Authority employees. Responding Port Authority police officers confirmed the finding, established a crime scene and contacted the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit.
Preliminary reports by the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office originally estimated the child to be approximately 10-months-old. Additional medical studies determined that the child was closer to 2-years-old and DNA testing by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Forensic Lab in Quantico, Virginia, confirmed her identity.
Prosecutor Suarez credited the collaborative effort by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit, the Port Authority Police Department and the FBI offices in Newark and Richmond, and San Juan, for their help in identifying the child and the arrest of the father. She also thanked the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office and the Richmond Police Department in Virginia for their assistance in the investigation.
Investigators are continuing to investigate this case and are urging anyone with information about this incident or anyone who remembers seeing something suspicious in this area to contact the Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit at 201-915-1345 or leave an anonymous tip on the Prosecutor’s website at http://www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/. All information will be kept confidential.
The above charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. R.P.C.3.6(b)(6).