NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) Prosecutors are seeking a court order that would require members of an Attleboro sect to provide blood samples to help identify the remains of a baby boy found in Maine last year.
Investigators believe the remains, found in Maine's Baxter State Park, are that of Samuel Robidoux. The boy's parents, Jacques and Karen Robidoux, have pleaded innocent to charges of murder related to his death.
The request for an order seeking the blood samples is contained in written motions filed recently by Bristol County prosecutors in New Bedford Superior Court.
Officials are also seeking handwriting samples from Jacques and Karen Robidoux and Michelle Mingo, who has been charged with being an accessory to assault on the boy.
The samples would be used to determine who wrote a series of journals that prosecutors say detail how Samuel Robidoux starved to death.
Prosecutors allege Samuel Robidoux died shortly before his first birthday. The remains believed to be that of the boy were found alongside Jeremiah Corneau, the infant son of sect members David and Rebecca Corneau.
The Corneaus had remained silent for months as authorities investigated the disappearance of the boys. Last year, after a promise of immunity for himself and his wife, David Corneau broke his silence and led investigators to the remote spot in Baxter State Park where the babies' remains were found.
Jeremiah Corneau is believed to have died shortly after his birth.
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for May 3