One of Iowa’s most disturbing unsolved cases dates back more than 140 years, when a newborn baby girl was found dead inside a pasteboard box delivered to a county official in Centerville.
On March 30, 1881, Appanoose County Treasurer John Addison Pierson stopped at the Centerville railroad station to check for mail. A railway agent handed him a postage-due package that had arrived from Camden, a now-abandoned community in Appanoose County.
The small box, measuring roughly 10 inches by 14 inches, was addressed to Pierson. Attached to it was a note instructing him to bury the contents on the north side of the cemetery.
Disturbed by the message, Pierson opened the package and discovered the body of a newborn girl wrapped in an old skirt. Authorities were immediately notified.
A coroner’s jury examined the infant and concluded that she had been born alive. According to their findings, acid or lye had been forced into the baby’s mouth, causing her death. The substance had also been splashed across part of her face and body.
Investigators traced the package to the railway post office in Camden, where a man and woman reportedly delivered the box earlier that day. Witnesses said the couple did little to hide their actions, making the case even more puzzling. The shipping charges were to be paid upon arrival in Centerville.
Authorities never determined why the package was sent to Pierson, and despite early suspicions involving a family in western Appanoose County, no charges were ever filed.
Newspaper reports from the time noted that local officials were reluctant to pursue a costly investigation without stronger evidence. As a result, the case gradually faded without answers.
To this day, many questions remain unanswered: Who was the baby girl? Who were her parents? Why was she killed? And why was her body sent to the county treasurer?
More than a century later, the tragic mystery of the “Baby in the Pasteboard Box” remains one of Iowa’s oldest unsolved murder cases.
Source: Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases
Author: Nancy Bowers
Original article written: August 2011.
