L.A. police ID owner of trunk containing baby bodies

LOS ANGELES — Investigators have identified the owner of a trunk in which the mummified remains of two babies were found, bringing them a step closer to solving the intriguing international mystery. The owner of the steamer trunk, abandoned for decades in the basement of an apartment building, was Janet M. Barrie, a Scottish immigrant who was born in 1897 and worked as a nurse in Los Angeles before moving to Vancouver, where she died, officials said Thursday.........
......... The abandoned trunk was found Aug. 17 by two women clearing out an apartment building basement that was filled with items that accumulated during years of remodels.
........ The trunk was like a time capsule from the 1930s, containing a pearl necklace, an iron with a thick electric cord, girdle, figurine, books, photos, documents and a cigar box painted with depictions of saints.
The women found the babies when they peeked into the doctors bags. It is not known if they had been born alive or had been miscarried or aborted.
One of them, a girl, was about the age of a newborn and extremely well preserved. She had thick brown hair and her arms lay by her sides while her legs were folded up to her chest, the law enforcement official said.

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