Los investigadores anunciaron que se identificó el cuerpo de una niña del siglo XIX encontrado el año pasado en un pequeño ataúd de metal debajo de una casa de San Francisco. La niña era Edith Howard Cook, de dos años, que murió el 13 de octubre de 1876, seis semanas antes de cumplir tres años, dijo la organización benéfica Garden of Innocence.

Elissa Davey, genealogista y fundadora del Proyecto Jardín de la Inocencia, el año pasado organizó un nuevo entierro de la niña en Colma y comenzó su búsqueda para identificar los restos.

Los científicos tomaron un descanso después de cientos de horas tratando de encontrar la identidad de Edith cuando descubrieron un mapa del antiguo cementerio en una biblioteca de la Universidad de California en Berkeley, y lo compararon con una parcela donde una vez fueron enterrados sus padres, Horatio Cook y Edith Scooffy. .

Los investigadores buscaron descendientes vivos una vez que tuvieron el apellido, uno de los cuales ofreció voluntariamente su ADN para la investigación. Peter Cook, residente del condado de Marin, sobrino nieto de Edith, coincidió con el ADN tomado de mechones de su cabello.

El profesor Jelmer Eerkens de UC Davis, quien ayudó con las pruebas de ADN, le dijo a KTVU que Edith murió de marasmo, que es desnutrición severa.

‘It’s likely she was sick with some disease and at some point her immune system couldn’t combat the disease and probably went into coma and passed away,’ he said.

Edith’s remains, found by construction workers last May, were apparently left behind when about 30,000 people originally buried in San Francisco’s Odd Fellows Cemetery in the Richmond District were moved in the 1920s to Greenlawn Memorial Park in ColmaAfter hundreds of hours trying to find Edith’s identity, researchers caught a break when they found a map of the old cemetery at a library and matched it to a plot where her parents, Horatio Cook and Edith Scooffy, were once buried. Pictured is her tiny casket

The girl’s well-off family gave her an ornate burial. She was clothed in a white christening dress and ankle-high boots.  Tiny purple flowers were woven into her hair and she held a purple Nightshade flower in her right hand.

Roses, eucalyptus leaves and baby’s breath were placed inside the coffin, according to the Garden of Innocence report.

Edith’s father was a businessman, the report said.

Her maternal grandfather was an original member of the Society of California Pioneers, which is an organization founded by California residents who arrived before 1850.

When the child was initially discovered, she was named Miranda Eve, until she was finally identified. During a reburial service last May, people from all over California came to pay their respects to Edith, whose blonde hair and skin were still perfectly preserved.

The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic based fraternal organization, dressed to the nines to carry the casket to its resting place.  Four men lowered a new, cherry-wood casket into the earth as approximately 100 mourners threw flowers and petals on top.

Speakers played ‘A Trumpeter’s Lullaby’ during the 10am memorial.  Michael Dunn, from the Garden of Innocence, said it was important they buried Edith because she’d been forgotten for so long.

‘She was forgotten and overlooked for more than 100 years, that ends today,’ Dunn said last year.

Garden of Innocence charity Ellisa Davey has been helping to bury the bodies of unidentified children in California for nearly 20 years. Once the child’s body was found, Davey got in touch with homeowner Ericka Karner.

During the reburial service last May, people from all over California came to pay their respects to Edith, whose blonde hair and skin were still perfectly preservedFour men lowered a new, cherry-wood casket into the earth as approximately 100 mourners threw flowers and petals on top. Speakers played ‘A Trumpeter’s Lullaby’ during the 10 am memorial.Several people dropped handfuls of rose petals into little Edith’s grave during the reburial last May

Davey then planned for Miranda’s reburial. ‘It was tough, very tough. But she is not just our child. She is everyone’s,’ she said.

All materials used in the funeral, including the casket, were donated.

Her headstone, in the shape of a heart, reads: ‘Miranda Eve. The Child Loved Around The World. If no one grieves, No one will remember!’

The back was made flat in case her real name was discovered. Now, since she is known as Edith, her name will be etched into the back. Construction workers were remodeling Karner’s childhood home in the Richmond District when they hit the lead and bronze coffin buried underneath the concrete garage.

The three-foot casket’s two windows revealed Edith’s perfectly preserved skin and long blonde hair. Construction worker Kevin Boylan told KTVU at the time: ‘All the hair was still there. The nails were there. There were flowers – roses, still on the child’s body. It was a sight to see.’

There were no markings on the purple velvet-lined coffin to identify the child after she was discovered on May 9, 2016.

Karner was soon surprised to find out from the medical examiner’s office that the child had become her responsibility. The city refused to take custody of Edith, and the problems continued when Karner tried to have the girl reburied. Karner was told she needed a death certificate to obtain a burial permit for the girl. A Colma undertaker was willing to take the body – for a cool $7,000.

Construction workers were remodeling Ericka Karner’s childhood home (pictured) in the Richmond District when they made the discoveryIt is believed the girl was one of the 30,000 people who were buried in the city’s Odd Fellows Cemetery, which was shut in 1890. The bodies were moved to allow for redevelopment

An East Bay archaeological company’s price was even steeper at $22,000.

Meanwhile, Edith’s body was deteriorating inside her coffin in Karner’s backyard because the seal was broken after the coroner’s superior instructed him to open the casket.

‘It didn’t seem right,’ Karner told the San Francisco Chronicle last year. ‘The city decided to move all these bodies 100 years ago, and they should stand behind their decision.’

City Hall finally put Karner in touch with someone who could help, connecting her to the Garden of Innocence.

That’s when Davey, who was able to secure the funds needed to have the coffin picked up and temporarily stored in a mortuary refrigerator in Fresno, said they needed to do the ‘right thing’.

‘That girl was somebody’s child,’ she said. ‘We had to pick her up.’

It was obvious to Davey that Miranda’s parents loved her very much.

‘Just by looking at the way they dressed her,’ she wrote. ‘Their sorrow was great. We will love her too.’

Davey has been saving forgotten children since 1998, when she read a story about a baby boy who died after he was dumped in a trash can at a college campus.

A month later, the boy was still on her mind. She called up the county coroner, who told her the boy was headed for an unmarked grave if he was not claimed.

Davey preguntó qué podía hacer y el forense respondió que podía reclamar al niño, siempre y cuando le demostrara que tenía un “lugar digno” para dejar descansar al niño, según Inside Edition.

Desde ese día, Davey y Garden of Innocence han brindado servicios conmemorativos a casi 300 niños no reclamados. Todos los niños reciben nombres antes de ser enterrados con una manta, un peluche y un poema personalizado en un ataúd de madera adornado con encaje, hecho por los Boy Scouts. A veces asisten a los servicios hasta 300 personas, incluidos militares, policías e incluso padres que han perdido a sus propios hijos.

“Nos hemos convertido en un lugar donde la gente encuentra un cierre”, dijo Davey.

Y es el cierre que Davey quería y recibió para la pequeña Edith.