CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – It’s been seven years since an unnamed, unidentified, baby boy, known as Baby Boy Horry was found in a shopping bag in the woods near Conway.
People met for a memorial service Friday afternoon at Hillcrest Cemetery on Highway 544 to remember the little boy.
The identity of Baby Horry’s parents is still unknown and law enforcement continue their search, though there haven’t been any new leads in years.
“Someone took the time to carry him, to give birth to him. why could they not have taken him to safety? Why did he have to die in the woods?” asked Tammy Higgins, who lives in Conway.
Higgins has attended Baby Boy Horry’s memorial each year for the past seven years, and now has another memory to keep alive.
“There’s too many senseless deaths and now we have two baby’s out here. We’re visiting Baby Grace, thrown away and unwanted,” said Higgins.
Baby Grace was 5 months old when she died last month, after her mother said she lost her in a creek in Socastee.
For Higgins, the stories are personal, 28 years ago she gave her own daughter up for adoption.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t want her. I didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. What did I know about raising a child? But I chose to give her life,” said Higgins.
Higgins says she made the hard decision, to give her baby a loving family and the things that she couldn’t herself.
“It wasn’t easy, I felt her move, I felt kick. I carried her under my heart,” said Higgins.
Daniels Law gives new parents in South Carolina an alternative to abandoning their baby. Any infant up to 30 days old can be dropped off at designated safe havens, with no questions asked.
“I’m sure a lot of people don’t know about it, but here again just take it to a hospital, church, police station or fire department; and turn around and walk away,” said Horry County Coroner, Robert Edge.
Lawmakers are now trying to extend the help to even more children. A prefiled bill in the South Carolina House would extend the safe haven law to infants up to a year old.
“There’s so many people that would love to have a baby. Why didn’t they take it somewhere where someone could adopt this baby?” asked Jane Bibby who was attending the ceremony from Myrtle Beach.
The prefiled bill to account for older babies would also require a safe haven sign be posted in a prominent place for the public.
The bill’s sponsor is Representative Heather Crawford of Socastee.
Any child dropped off at a safe haven must be left in the physical care of a staff member for the parents to avoid prosecution.
