'Baby Hope,' Young NYC Girl Murdered 22 Years Ago, Identified As Angelica Ramirez

After more than two decades, the toddler found stuffed in a cooler along the Henry Hudson Parkway has been identified: "Baby Hope," as the NYPD named her, was Angelica Ramirez.

A police official confirmed her name to The New York Post.

Earlier this week, the NYPD made a huge breakthrough in the tragic cold case after locating Angelica's mother in Washington Heights.

Police are not releasing the mother's name citing an open murder investigation. The mother is said to have suspected the girl's father was connected to her disappearance, but was afraid of him and therefore did not go to the police.

Angelica's father is now being sought as a person of interest. Sources say he could be in Mexico or still living in the city.

From The New York Times:

The couple split up and the father took Angelica against her mother’s will, the official said. She lived in her father’s residence for several months before she was killed. She was asphyxiated, investigators had earlier determined, but they are still uncertain about where she died.