October, 2004
`WE DIDN'T WANT BLUE TO GO INTO A JANE DOE GRAVE'
COUPLE HELPS GIVE PROPER BURIAL TO BABY WHO WASHED UP ON VENTNOR BEACH
DAVID BENSON Staff Writer (609) 272-7206
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"The medical examiner's office told me it might take some time to finish the investigation," Bill said. "When I got the call two weeks ago, that she could be buried, I was happy," Bill said. "Not glad-happy. But that call meant Blue's body wasn't sitting on some slab in a morgue forever and ever."
It wasn't that Bill was being critical of the investigators. Rather, it was that Blue had become a part of his and Susan's life. He was ready for some sort of closure.
"All of the police have been wonderful," he said. "Especially the Victims of Crime Compensation Board."
It is the board that has offered Bill and Susan much support over the last year. And recently, Bill found out that the board would pay for the funeral.
"We didn't know that going into it," he said. "But it helps."
Even with the board paying for the services, someone has to prepare for the funeral.
"What hit us like a ton of bricks," Bill said, "was when Susan had to go to the store and pick out an outfit and blanket for Blue."
Susan took a shuddering breath, and wiped her eyes.
"I got her a onesie," she said, describing the one-piece garment most newborns wear home from the hospital. "It has butterflies on it. And I got her a fleece blanket and a little pink hat."
Susan stopped and took a slow breath.
"It was tough," she said. "It wasn't like shopping for a baby shower."
The Ferriers feel almost the same compassion for Blue's mother as they do for the child who was thrown into the sea.
"She's got to be held accountable," Bill said. "She has to own what she's done." At his feet, Bill's dog, Holly, rolled around, restless and fidgety. Absentmindedly, Bill scratched the dog's head. "But I have sympathy for her," he said. "I can embrace her, because I know how painful it was for her. How horrible her life must be."
While neither Bill nor Susan can ever be certain, they believe Blue's mother is a young woman, perhaps a teenage girl, who found herself pregnant and in trouble. They don't have much to go on in that belief, other than the circumstances and the panties found with the child's small body.
"The panties were tiny," she said. "Like they were a young girl's. I think it was a child having a child."
The Ferriers don't want that to happen again, to see another young woman faced with the kind of choices Blue's mother may have seen.
"This takes me to the mother of Blue," Bill said. "She saw her only choice as to kill her own baby. If she was in that much pain then, how much do you think she's in now?"
Bill wiped his eyes again, and looked to Susan for support. She nodded, and Bill went on:
"That mother doesn't need to be in a jail cell," he said. "She's already in one. All too often in our society, we point the finger without looking at our own accountabilities. "We have to ask ourselves what brought her to this."
That's why the Ferriers are setting up a foundation in Blue's name aimed at helping women. It is still in its early stages, Susan said, but the program will mentor young girls to give them choices - ways to prevent pregnancies.
"These girls need to have options," she said. "Killing your baby can't be your only choice."
Bill believes the program will grow.
"I hope this foundation morphs into something beautiful, just like Baby Blue," Bill said. "This is her legacy, her journey."
Bill and his brother, Bruce, will carry the casket containing the body of the child Bill has come to think of as his own to her tiny grave Dec. 4 at Seaside Cemetery in Marmora. But now that she has a family and a name, Baby Blue's journey has just begun.
IF YOU WANT TO HELP
Officials have released the body of Baby Blue, but the investigation continues. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Major Crime Unit at (609) 909-7666. Information also can be given anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (800) 658-8477. Baby Blue will be buried at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Seaside Cemetery in Marmora, by Adams-Perfect Funeral Home Inc. Call (609) 641-0065 if you have questions about the service. The Baby Blue Foundation is a mentoring program for young women, both to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to offer alternatives to young pregnant women.
The Baby Blue Foundation
P.O. Box 2408
Ventnor City, NJ 08406
Illustration: Bill Ferrier wipes away tears as his wife, Susan, talks about a burial for Baby Blue, found 10 months ago by Bill on a Ventnor beach. Staff color photo by Scott E. Stetzer
Copyright, 2004, South Jersey Publishing Company t/a The Press of Atlantic City