Authorities in Connecticut have detained a person of interest for questioning about the infant discovered in the bathtub of a vacated motel room in Milford.
Housekeeping staff at the Mayflower Motel made the startling discovery on Wednesday around 11 a.m. and immediately alerted authorities, police said.
Once on the scene, responding officers performed CPR on the baby until paramedics arrived. They continued life saving measures while they raced to Yale New Haven Hospital, where the infant was pronounced dead just before 12 p.m.
Authorities so far have provided few other details in the case, but they did say they were seeking 31-year-old Dale Kirkland in connection with the baby’s death. In wake of the tragedy, Milford police released his photo to the public and called on the community for help in locating him.
Kirkland was taken into custody Wednesday night on the corner of East Main Street and Berkshire Avenue at 7:30 p.m., police said. It’s not clear what, if any charges he may face.
While police did not provide his relationship to the infant, an employee at a nearby store — who wished to remain anonymous — said Kirkland often showed up at the business with the infant in his arms.
“She was beautiful, head full of hair, always smiling, always full. She was great,” the worker told NBC Philadelphia.
Mayflower Motel guest Eric Klobedanz told the news station his room connected with the one where the baby was found, He recalled seeing Kirkland smoking outside the motel, sometimes with baby and other times alone. He also said Kirkland was a noisy neighbor, who often kept him up.
“There were nights I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “It was here in the water, running nonstop, the banging on the walls and yelling, the child crying,”
An investigation into the matter is ongoing.
