PHOENIX (KSAZ) - As investigators work to identify the remains of an infant found in a dirt lot, members of a church near where the remains were found held a memorial Thursday night.
The remains were discovered by construction workers in the area of 87th Avenue and Indian School Road, where they were building new homes. Church members are calling the late infant "Baby Phoenix".
Nearly 100 people turned out to remember Baby Phoenix at the Southwest Church of Christ, near the construction site. A table inside the church was filled with stuffed animals and donations filled.
Reggie Gardner, the church's Evangelism Minister, said even thought they don't know much about the child, there was still a need for a proper memorial.
"This just absolutely pluck the heartstrings of the whole community," said Gardner. "I'm a parent, you know? And to think, 'what if that had been my child come up missing, and found out here in a shallow grave'?"
Gardner said they are planning to give the child a proper burial.
"We're going to buy a grave plot, and we're going to get a headstone and everything," said Gardner. "We're going to give this child a proper burial."