MTA rider ‘still processing’ his Saturday ride as Baltimore Police investigate fetuses found on bus

Eric Carver said he wishes he didn’t see what he saw Saturday on a Maryland Transit Administration bus seat and, on Wednesday, was “still processing” the discovery of two stillborn fetuses.

But as he tries to make sense of the situation, the regular bus commuter said he hopes the mother can get help. Carver added that having had a daughter who experienced a miscarriage, this matter brought up strong emotions.

“Their mother is somewhere in turmoil; that’s what bothers me the most,” said Carver.

Baltimore Police declined to say on Wednesday if investigators had located the mother of the two fetuses found over the weekend, citing that the investigation “is still open and active” and “there is no further information to provide at this time.”

The department said earlier this week that a second fetus had been found on Saturday after officers responded to the 2500 block of Kirk Avenue at about 12:30 p.m. to a bus driver’s report that a fetus was located on the bus.

The department’s homicide unit is investigating the matter as a “suspicious death.” Police declined to say Wednesday if they believed the matter was criminal in nature.

Carver said he notified the bus driver earlier that morning, though he’s unsure if the driver understood him or took action immediately. Carver said he was riding the CityLink Green bus home after working a 12-hour shift at Amazon and saw a pink bonnet on a seat, then saw a fetus’s head underneath after “something inside” him told him to take a closer look.

Carver said he told the bus driver, who had stopped the bus and gotten off because 33rd Street had been shut down for the Baltimore 10 Miler. The race’s route from Druid Hill Park to Lake Montebello was set to be closed off from 7 a.m. until the competition ended at around 10 a.m., according to a weekly notice from the Baltimore Department of Transportation.

MTA spokesperson Veronica Battisti said the transit agency’s police department is cooperating with Baltimore Police to investigate the matter, “including interviewing witnesses and reviewing CCTV footage” from cameras on the bus. Asked how long the fetuses were left on board the bus, she deferred to Baltimore Police, who declined to answer as the matter was still under investigation.

Stephanie Moore, a spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Wednesday that “locating and notifying next of kin” is done through police. She said her office’s investigation, including determining the fetuses’ gestation time, was active and ongoing. Earlier this week, the office said that the fetuses were stillborn.

Those who experience perinatal loss — a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death — encounter grief responses similar to other deaths. Disheartened by reactions on social media, Carver said that he hopes the mother is located and given support and not treated as a criminal.

“Put yourself in her shoes. She must have been in shock,” he said. “You lose one child, and it’s devastating. This was two.”

The local public health initiative B’more for Healthy Babies and the grief support center Roberta’s House offer support groups for those who have had a pregnancy or infant loss under their combined effort, The H.O.P.E. Project.