FBI joins investigation into newborn’s death at Michigan music festival Electric Forest

The FBI has joined Michigan State Police in investigating the death of a newborn found inside a portable toilet at the Electric Forest music festival, offering a reward of up to $15,000 as authorities push for new leads in a case that has drawn national attention.

Agents from the FBI’s Detroit Field Office began assisting Michigan State Police this week, the agencies announced Monday. The reward is being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the infant’s death.

MSP Lt. Pat Agema said investigators believe the case can be solved through forensic evidence and that people with knowledge of what happened have yet to come forward.

“We believe that there are definitely people who know something about it,” Mr. Agema said, according to WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids. “We do believe that this investigation will be solved through forensics.”

He noted the scale of the challenge facing investigators, given that roughly 50,000 people attended the four-day festival and another 12,000 worked it.

“We are going through video,” Mr. Agema said. “We’re trying to follow up on all the leads coming through and that’s probably one of the reasons the FBI has come on board, because of the national attention this festival gets.”

The infant’s body was discovered on June 28 by an employee of the restroom vending company conducting routine maintenance in a camping area on the festival grounds at Double JJ Ranch. The festival, an annual electronic-music gathering, was in its final day when the body was found.

State police say preliminary autopsy findings indicate the newborn — classified by investigators as a “neonate,” meaning an infant no more than 28 days old — was viable and born alive. Sources told WOOD-TV that a postmortem examination found fluid in the baby’s lungs and stomach, which the station reported as an indication the child took breaths after birth. That detail has not been confirmed in official statements from Michigan State Police or the FBI.

Investigators have worked to tamp down speculation on social media in the weeks since the discovery. Last week, MSP said it had cleared a woman from the Muskegon area as a suspect after she was identified through a tip. Investigators called her fully cooperative and said she was ruled out following an interview and other investigative steps.

Mr. Agema said the case remains a top priority for state police.

“It’s a top priority,” he said. “We are invested in this investigation. We have multiple people working on it daily. We have tips that are coming in constantly.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Michigan State Police through MichTip or by calling 1-855-MICH-TIP. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov.