PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland police have identified Baby Precious, and the prime suspect in her case, a decade after her body was found at the EFI Recycling center in 2013.
On Thursday afternoon, authorities announced that the baby’s name was Amara.
After years of the case going unsolved, the Portland Police Bureau’s Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation in 2019. Officials said an anonymous source tipped them off to a family connection in December 2021, but investigators spent the next year and a half identifying the baby’s parents and the suspect — Amara’s father, 53-year-old Alnath Omar Oliver.
“From the moment the defendant was aware of the pregnancy, he prevented the mother from seeking any medical care, prenatal care or other, including after, in the immediate, she gave birth on his floor and he prevented her from seeking any medical attention,” said Portland Police Det. Brendan McGuire at a press conference Thursday. “He then took the child from his apartment and in the course of walking to the hospital, the baby passed. When he found the baby unresponsive, he refused to take the baby to the hospital.
On Monday, a Multnomah County jury charged Oliver with concealing the birth of an infant, third-degree rape, two counts of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment.
According to PPB, the U.S. Marshals Service also booked Oliver into the Multnomah County Detention Center on the arrest warrant on Thursday.
“While we continue to mourn the death of baby Amara, we hope this significant announcement helps our community with the healing process from this tragedy,” PPB Chief Chuck Lovell said. “I want to express my appreciation for the tenacity of the investigators in this case, and the determination they had to seek justice for ‘Baby Precious.’”
Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops.
