Cumberland Authorities, Businesses Provide Funeral for Newborn Boy

Sheriff's deputies named the child and plan to give him a proper burial with a little help from the community.

Investigators were hoping some family members would come forward to bury the newborn baby, but none did. So, employees with the sheriff's office are making the abandoned baby boy a member of their extended family.

Everyone was touched when a newborn baby boy was found dead on the side of the road in Grays Creek earlier this month. Flowers now lay where the baby was found, but members of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office wanted to do more.

"The baby obviously didn't have a chance in life, and they wanted to see it get a decent burial," said Cuyler Windham, chief deputy of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

But they were not the only ones.

Local businesses wanted to help. A funeral home is donating a casket and tombstone for the little boy.

A funeral director has donated his services, and a church has donated a plot. They say it is what an innocent child deserves.

"When it hits home in your own community, it hits home and makes you think 'Do people really take on the responsibility of being a parent?'" said funeral director Robert Breece.

Members of the community have gone beyond that. The baby is now named Michael after the patron saint of law enforcement and the guardian angel of children.

The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday in Hairs Chapel Church on Duck Pond Road near Linden. The baby will be buried in the church cemetery.

Investigators continue to run down leads in the case.