Cops are one step closer to solving the mysterious murder of “Baby Hope” — a little girl found stuffed in a cooler near Henry Hudson Parkway in 1991 — after the baby’s sister came forward with a story that calls into question both of her parents, police sources said.
Police were able to track down the the baby’s mom in Washington Heights and confirm with a DNA test that the murdered child belongs to her after a tipster acquainted with the baby’s younger sister contacted police, law enforcement sources said.
The sister, who is now in her 20s, then told police she remembers traveling to Mexico with her father as a young girl not long before her sister went missing.
The sister claims she remembers leaving Baby Hope with her mother before leaving on the trip — then never seeing her again, police sources said.
The mother placed the blame on the father, telling police she had long suspected the dad had something to do with her child’s death. She claimed she was too afraid to come forward at the time because he was abusive.
She told police the father had disappeared with the child in 1991.
Cops, who have released no names of people involved in the case, are searching for the father.
The tipster told police she was inspired to come forward after seeing a 22nd anniversary news report about the murder. She had overheard a conversation in a laundromat two years ago in which Baby Hope’s sister noted the murdered baby may have been her sister.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly cheered the department’s hard work on the case on Tuesday.
“This has been an investigation that has been conducted for the last 22 years and the detectives in the 34th precinct detective squad and cold case squad did great work. And I’m proud of them,” he told The Post
Cops have sent out fliers on the anniversary of the baby’s death for 22 years.
The child’s body was discovered in Washington Heights in a dirty cooler full of soda cans.
Witnesses told police at the time they saw a man and a woman walking with a cooler, not far from where body was recovered, sources said.