​U.S. attorney: Evidence disputes stolen baby claim

ST. LOUIS -- Recently discovered medical files further dispute a St. Louis woman's allegations that her baby was stolen from a hospital here five decades ago and a federal investigation into the matter has now been closed, a U.S. attorney said Friday.

U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said during a news conference that medical records show Melanie Diane Gilmore, who was named Diane Jackson at birth, was born at St. Louis' City Hospital No. 1.

That contradicts the story of Gilmore's mother, Zella Jackson Price, who alleged that Gilmore was stolen at birth from another St Louis hospital, Homer G. Phillips, after she was told the child had died.

"We can now say with complete confidence that there is no truth to that allegation and our investigation is now closed," Callahan said.

The reunion of Price, 76, and her daughter drew international attention earlier this year. A DNA test confirmed they were mother and daughter.

Price's story prompted hundreds of other women to come forward with concerns that their babies had also been stolen from Homer G. Phillips. Callahan said the federal investigation focused only on Price's case because it was the only one in which a mother claimed a child had died, and later that child turned out to be alive.

The newly discovered medical files, as well as Missouri adoption records previously obtained by The Associated Press, contradict Price's allegation that her baby was stolen.

Among the discrepancies is the place where Gilmore was born. The medical files, obtained by AP on Friday, are written on forms from City Hospital No. 1. The adoption files also say Gilmore was born at City Hospital No. 1. Though Price is black, City Hospital No. 1 served predominantly white people while Homer G. Phillips served a largely black clientele.

Price said in July that she would never abandon a child.

"That's the biggest lie ever told," Price said at the time. "I have five other children. They're all spoiled like they were only children. Why would I give up this one?"

At the time, she said the adoption file was rife with inaccuracies. In addition to listing what she said was the wrong hospital, she said her age and details about the biological father also were wrong.

Price's attorney, Albert Watkins, said the medical file was delivered to him Friday afternoon and that he was reviewing the documents. Watkins has said the previously released adoption file is a problem, and that officials did not follow proper procedures. Those files say Price abandoned the baby at City Hospital No. 1 and that officials tried to track her down over the years.

Watkins has said the information in the adoption file may have been falsified as part of a cover-up. He has maintained for months that Price's daughter, and perhaps other supposedly dead babies at Homer G. Phillips Hospital, were stolen and sold for illegal adoptions.

Watkins said Price's story has remained consistent, relatives have corroborated Price's story that she gave birth at Homer G. Phillips in 1965 but never brought home a baby, and that Price did not abandon or give up her other child.

Gilmore was born prematurely on Nov. 25, 1965. Price said a nurse told her hours later that her daughter had died, but she was not allowed to see the deceased infant and never received a death certificate.

Earlier this year, Price received a Facebook message from Mehiska Jackson, the daughter of Melanie Diane Gilmore of Springfield, Oregon. Gilmore's children were searching for her birth mother.

Price agreed to DNA testing that proved with near 100-percent certainty that Gilmore was her daughter. The two reunited in April.

Since then, scores of other women have questioned whether their own infants, born from the 1940s through the 1970s, had really died soon after birth at Homer G. Phillips.

But the hospital closed in 1979 and records have proven difficult to find. The St. Louis Health Department received more than 300 inquiries.