The father of the infant found dead inside a suitcase placed on a set of train tracks in Jersey City earlier this month has been arrested in connection to her death, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.Â
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
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, Suarez said in a statement.
Her father was subsequently tracked by investigators to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was arrested without incident by FBI agents on April 19th, and is currently awaiting extradition proceedings to Hudson County, authorities said.
Plummer, 37, of Richmond, V.A., has been charged by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit with desecrating human remains, police said.
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, officials said.
The suspected human remains were found in a suitcase by Port Authority employees and police confirmed the finding, established a crime scene and contacted the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit, authorities said.
Preliminary reports by the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office originally estimated the child to be approximately 10-months-old, but additional medical studies determined that the child was closer to 2-years-old, police said.
Furthermore, DNA testing by the FBI Forensic Lab in Quantico, Virginia, confirmed her identity.
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, as well as 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 their website at: http://www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/.
All information will be kept confidential.
