The FBI has joined Michigan State Police in the investigation into a newborn baby's death at Electric Forest and is offering up to $15,000 for information that could identify the person or people involved. The case centers on a baby’s body found June 28 in a portable toilet building in the camping area at Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury.
The new federal assistance gives the case its sharpest push yet. On Monday, the FBI Detroit Field Office said it is working with state investigators as the search for answers shifts from a local death inquiry to a wider effort that could lead to an arrest and conviction. Authorities say tips can be sent to 855-MICH-TIP or through tips.fbi.gov.
What makes the case especially urgent now is what investigators say they have already learned. Michigan State Police said preliminary autopsy findings indicate the infant was viable and was born alive, a finding that raises the stakes in a case that began when an employee of the restroom vending company found the body during routine maintenance. That is the basis for the reward: investigators are not asking only for general information, but for details that could identify who was responsible and connect that person to the death.
Police have already followed one path and closed it. A tip led investigators to a festival attendee from Muskegon, and she cooperated with authorities, but state police said she has been eliminated as a suspect. The gap left behind is the one that matters most, because the person or people who left the infant there have still not been identified.
Electric Forest is an annual music festival, and the discovery turned a busy campground into the center of a criminal investigation that now involves both Michigan State Police and the FBI. State police said they are confident continued investigative efforts, combined with forensic science, will eventually identify the responsible person. The reward is meant to make sure anyone with even a small piece of that answer speaks up now.
