NewsChannel 3 is closer than ever to solving a missing baby mystery. For months, we've been investigating the case of David Blockett, the Newport News baby stolen from his mother in December 1980.
The case had grown cold until a NewsChannel 3 investigation caused police to re-open the case.
A mystery woman tricked David's mother, Vanessa, into thinking she was a social worker. The strange woman took David and his two-year-old brother, Frederick, from their home.
She let Frederick go in Hampton and kept David.
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After working with Newport News police to re-open David's case in October, new clues have come to light. Many of these clues indicate that David may still be alive.
Newport News detective Amber Rodgers is assigned to David's case. She feels they are closer than ever to cracking the cold case.
One of the most crucial keys to solving David's case is figuring out the identity of the abductor.
Police drew a sketch based on Vanessa Blockett's description of the woman who posed as a social worker. The woman said her name was "Marie Kelley." She was described as a black woman between 5'6 and 5'8, around 150 pounds, white teeth and arched eyebrows.
The image struck a chord with one viewer who called us right after seeing the story.
That person's information about who the woman may be is giving detectives more hope than ever before.
“That has since led us to interview several other people who might have known the suspect back in the day or who might have information about her, and we're currently following leads on that,” says Rodgers.
More clues may be in the clothes David was wearing the day he was abducted.
A few days after David was stolen, detectives found the items of clothing on Colonial Parkway.
This year, detectives rediscovered David's little booties, blanket, sweater and jeans. A comb and hair samples have also been preserved for 30 years.
Results from the testing in 2012 could lead to finding David, the abductor or both.
“The information we have is just amazing and I’m feeling like we're really gonna find David this time,” says Rodgers.
If or when David is found, sadly his mother won't be there to embrace him. She died of a brain aneurism 14 years ago.
But her hopes to find David still echo in an old article.
"I know David`s coming back. Next time I see him, he might not be a child. He might be a young man, but someday there will be a knock on my door and my boy will be home,” wrote Vanessa.
