Chip Chick
There was DNA that had been collected in Baby Mary Ann’s case, and although there were new techniques available to help try to figure out the real identity of Baby Mary Ann, that really didn’t give authorities any new answers.
Sergeant Zook kept tirelessly working to see if he could piece together some kind of family tree for Baby Mary Ann using her DNA, and used a variety of different databases to finally get close enough to a second cousin of the baby.
In the end, Sergeant Zook’s hard work paid off, and he made his way to a 44-year-old woman named Tara Bazzle, whom he believed to be Baby Mary Ann’s mom.
Sergeant Zook then traveled to Valparaiso, Indiana, along with Detective Jessica Higgins, so that he could speak to Tara.
As Sergeant Zook spoke to Tara, she revealed to him that she was the mom of Baby Mary Ann. She claimed to have given birth to the little girl at home.
“Brazzle indicated that she knew she was pregnant, failed to seek any prenatal care for the baby and did not provide any medical care to the baby after giving birth,” the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office continued.
“According to Brazzle, she placed the baby in the trash dumpster located behind the YMCA several days later.”
Although Tara allegedly confessed, Sergeant Zook and Detective Higgins did not arrest her that day because they still needed to continue their investigation.
Their next step was finding out if Tara had any kind of helping in killing her baby or throwing her out in the dumpster.
Things took a turn though when they realized Tara had hopped on a plane to California the morning after she had been interviewed.
An arrest warrant for Tara was issued, and officers with the San Jose Police Department were there in California to arrest Tara as soon as she got off her plane.
