Two and a half decades after his death, former Liverpool Police Chief Floyd Harrison is still on duty, helping to take care of a village crime victim.
Chief Harrison’s family has donated a burial plot at Liverpool Cemetery for Isabella Marie, the infant who was found dead in a dumpster on Pearl Street in the village on Jan. 6. The baby’s 29-year-old mother, Nicole DeJaynes of Clay, was charged with second-degree murder.
DeJaynes’ case is pending and will be presented to a grand jury, according to Onondaga County First Chief Assistant District Attorney Rick Trunfio. She’s being held without bail in the Corbett Justice Center in Syracuse.
After reading newspaper stories about the Liverpool Police Department’s plans to arrange a funeral for the dead baby, Harrison’s son and two daughters decided to donate a resting place located next to their parents’ graves in Liverpool Cemetery.
Isabella Marie’s memorial Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday March 26, at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church at Sixth and Tulip streets in the village. Burial will follow at the adjacent Liverpool Cemetery.
Even in death, the infant is a ward of the state, according to LPD Chief Bill Becker. While police conducted their investigation of the baby’s death, the LPD received permission from the state to name the infant and to bury her. Two LPD officers are expected to serve as Isabella’s pallbearers on Saturday.
Chief Becker said contributions can be made in the baby’s name to Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, 750 E. Adams St., Syracuse, NY 13210.
Besides the Harrisons, several other individuals and businesses have contributed to Isabella Marie’s funeral arrangements.
LPD clerk Brenda Giacchi gave the baby her name. In Latin, bella means “beautiful.”
Ken Luster, owner of the Ballweg & Lunsford Funeral Home, 4612 S. Salina St., in Syracuse, donated embalming services and a casket.
Gloria Manns, the widow of longtime LPD Sgt. Dan Manns, sewed a burial gown for the baby.
Liverpool’s Maurer Funeral Home coordinated the donation of the Harrison’s cemetery plot.
Burdick-Enea Memorials and DeRegis-Walser Monuments of Syracuse donated an engraved granite monument.
Chief Harrison, who helmed the LPD for 24 years before his retirement in 1970, died Aug. 29, 1987, five months after the death of his wife, Sylvia Bettinger Harrison. They are buried in Liverpool Cemetery across the cemetery road from the O’Neil mausoleum. On Saturday, they will be joined by Isabella Marie.
