Kathy Zahaczewsky awoke to the sound of a helicopter flying over her home on Gateshead Road last Sunday.
"It kept going around and around," she said.
When Zahaczewsky watched the news that night, she realized why the helicopter was flying overhead. She, along with others in the Mount Vernon community, learned that the body of a baby had been found early Sunday morning in a manmade pond at the Mount Vernon Country Club.
It was the badly decomposed body of an infant male. The Fairfax County Police have few details to release and Mount Vernon Country Club Manager Bill Sawin is deferring all questions to the police.
"We support the efforts of the Fairfax County Police," he said.
Tracy Watts, President of Mount Vernon Country Club, said, "The members and staff of Mount Vernon Country Club are saddened by the death of an innocent infant. We join the rest of the community in mourning a young life unlived. Because the incident is under investigation, the Fairfax County Police have requested that the club not discuss the details of the incident."
Phone numbers have been published in several area newspapers and Public Information Officer Jackie Smith said that they have been receiving phone calls.
"Detectives are following up on leads," said Smith, adding that the autopsy released on Monday did not show signs of trauma, but it didn't determine the cause of death, either.
Captain Larry Moser said that the detectives have had good support from the public, but added, "We still haven't found the mother. We're asking for the public to call."
He suggested that mothers who found themselves in a bad situation contact somebody from human services. "We have a tremendous amount of resources," he said.
THE POLICE HAVE not released the race of the baby because it has not yet been determined.
"It's hard to know who it could be without knowing the race of the baby," said Charlie Aschmann, member of the Mount Vernon Country Club.
Aschmann hasn't golfed much lately, but said that the pond where the baby was found is connected to the creek that runs under Old Mill Road. There is speculation that the baby may have washed downstream from one of the feeder creeks.
A local landscaper who has done work at the club said that the creek runs across Frye Road where it intersects with Pole Road; behind the Safeway and Taco Bell on Route 1 and then on to Pinewood Lake. "It's on both sides of Route 1; it could have come from anywhere," he said.
When asked about the possibility of the baby washing down the creek, Moser said, "The water level was so high, anything's possible." He didn't want to speculate on the chances of the mother being found, but said, "With the amount of effort we're spending I'd be surprised [if we didn't find her]."
If you have any information, call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131 or 703-691-8888.