DNA Proves Infant Found by River Is Baby Zara

New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow says that DNA testing confirms that the infant found on the bank of the Raritan River, just east of the Route 35 Victory Bridge, on April 24 is Zara Malani-Lin Abdur-Raheem.

The child had been missing since Feb. 16, when her biological father allegedly abducted her and threw her from the Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway.

Prosecutors believe Shamsid-Din Abdur-Raheem killed his daughter hours after taking her from her 60-year-old grandmother's apartment in East Orange.

Though he later pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges, Abdur-Raheem initially told police that he wrapped his daughter in a blue sleeping bag and threw her off the Driscoll Bridge.

The infant’s mother, Venetta Benjamin, had filed for a restraining order against Abdur-Raheem not long before the alleged infanticide.

Right after the alleged incident, the 21-year-old stopped to see his Imam—his Islamic spiritual leader—in Atlantic City, police said. The Imam drove Abdur-Raheem to his father’s house and his father, Mushim Raheem, called police.

"That baby was innocent she didn’t do no harm to anybody,” Mushim Raheem told NBC Philadelphia in February. “I’m praying for a miracle.”

The Galloway Township resident is being held on $2.7 million bail.

The baby's body was found by people walking on the south bank of the river. Her clothing matched descriptions given to police when she disappeared.