Vigil held after newborn baby’s body found abandoned in a field

WHITEWATER, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A vigil was held Saturday night for an unnamed baby found dead in a field near a Wisconsin mobile home park.

WMTV reported there were about 70 people gathered outside of Twin Oaks mobile home park in Whitewater a week after the newborn infant’s body was discovered.

Pam Brotzman, who has been a Whitewater resident for over 60 years, said she has seen a lot in her time there, but had never witnessed the body of a baby found abandoned in the cold near there.

“This is a first for Whitewater,” she said. “My heart jumped in my throat. I just kept saying, ‘Don’t let it be true. Don’t let it be true.’ It turned out it was.’’

Brotzman said she felt people needed closure, so she organized the vigil for the unnamed child.

Chapel Whitewater Pastor Kevin Tranel, who has five children of his own, said the baby’s death feels personal.

“This is very painful for anyone that is experiencing the loss of a baby that young and a community that’s losing a baby at that age,” he said.

Tranel spoke at the vigil, although he said words were hard to find when consoling the community about a life taken too soon.

“It’s tough. Sometimes that’s where I don’t always have the words but it’s more about being able to give kindness and love,” he said. “I know from my own life that’s what brings healing amidst the pain.”

Whitewater’s chief of police has not released details regarding the investigation into the baby’s death.

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