Ten months before a South Carolina woman tossed her newborn girl in a vacuum cleaner box and left her to die, she put her newborn boy in a trash bag and tossed him into the woods, according to police.
Greenville News reports that on Thursday, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office announced that 53-year-old Brook Graham, currently behind bars over the death of a newborn girl found abandoned and deceased in 1990, is also the mother to a newborn boy found abandoned and deceased a year prior.
The baby boy, according to the the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, was found on April 15, 1989, in a wooded area off of Bear Drive in Greenville County. After a request by Greenville News, authorities re-opened the infant boy’s case, who was only a few days old when he passed away.
Investigators sent off for DNA testing to the State Law Enforcement Division, which confirmed a DNA match between the boy and Graham. DNA testing also confirmed that the infant boy was the brother to another baby, a newborn girl found in 1990 in Columbia, stuffed in a box and left to die.
Brook Graham, mother of Julie Valentine, appears at her bond hearing Thursday night following a second infant death charge.
More about the case: https://t.co/vFdHtSeZeY#JulieValentine #coldcase pic.twitter.com/sxyB6GNfyF
— The Greenville News (@GreenvilleNews) May 17, 2019
As CrimOnline previously reported, in February 1990, a newborn baby girl was found dumped in a rural, trash-filled area in Columbia. A man out picking flowers for his wife on Valentine’s Day discovered the baby inside a Sears Kenmore vacuum cleaner box. The 6.5-pound newborn was covered with old rags and bedding.
Greenville County police Chief Ken Miller said that every detective in the county started working on the case, trying to identify the parents of the newborn. The baby became known among law enforcement officials as “Julie Valentine.” The infant still had her umbilical cord attached. Detectives said the baby was found deceased, but was likely born alive and suffered several days before dying in the box.
After locating the infant’s father earlier this year, the man told police he didn’t have any knowledge of the infant. Yet, he said the only person he was intimate with during that time period was Graham, who lived with him at the time. The unnamed man said Graham left him long ago for someone else and he didn’t keep in contact with her.
While reviewing an order history of Sears’ vacuum cleaners, investigators discovered that Graham’s boyfriend at the time bought a vacuum cleaner in 1990. The box baby Julie was found in matched the exact model. Authorities have no reason to believe the man was involved in the crime. He’s been fully cooperative during the investigation, according to police.
Investigators said Graham continued to live in South Carolina after the incident, and now has two adult children.
Graham has a number of previous criminal charges, including arrests for breach of trust, bad checks, financial transaction card fraud, and forgery. She’s currently behind bars without bail, facing a homicide by neglect charge. If convicted, she faces life in prison.
Graham appeared for a bond hearing for the latest charges on Thursday night. Although her bond was set at a total of $25,000 for unlawful neglect of a child and desecration of human remains, she won’t be leaving jail, as she still has no bond for the previous charge.
The story continues to develop. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
[Feature Photo: Brooke Graham/Greenville PD]
