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Delays in baby case irk Upper Darby chief

At long last, Upper Darby police today will begin interviewing relatives who are caught in the tangled tragedy of the dead baby in the Volkswagen Beetle.

At long last, Upper Darby police today will begin interviewing relatives who are caught in the tangled tragedy of the dead baby in the Volkswagen Beetle.

But anxious detectives will have to wait at least another week before they're allowed to speak to a Drexel University student they believe is the mother of the infant, who was found stuffed in the trunk of the car in a quiet section of Drexel Hill on Monday.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said yesterday he was "outraged" by the continual delays in the case and interference from family attorneys.

"We're not talking about a traffic ticket here," an exasperated Chitwood said.

"This is a dead baby."

Investigators executed a search warrant on a dorm on the Drexel campus Tuesday night and took a young woman's computer and several other personal items.

Chitwood said they did not, however, take any DNA evidence.

Chitwood noted that the half dozen detectives assigned to the case have also identified the "probable father of the baby" through interviews with friends, but he is not considered a person of interest.

"So far, we just have some interviews set up with some of the key people that we need to talk to," Chitwood said.

"But we certainly won't be able to talk to the [female] person of interest this week."

The lifeless infant - whose umbilical cord was still attached to his tiny stomach - was found squeezed into a tote bag, buried under bloody clothes and scattered pieces of mail in the trunk of the silver 2001 Beetle.

Chitwood said it will be another week or two before a medical examiner conclusively rules on a cause of death. The baby, he said, was not born prematurely.

The car was parked in front the home of Albert Piscopo, president and chief executive of the Glenmede Trust Co.

Police believe that the Beetle belongs to Piscopo's daughter, Stephanie Leone, and that Leone's daughter delivered the baby.

Investigators were called to the disturbing scene by the Piscopo family attorney, Arthur Donato.

Donato seemed annoyed yesterday by Chitwood's allegations of uncooperativeness.

"I'm not going to respond every time Michael Chitwood is going to talk to a reporter," Donato said.

"If anybody suggests that we are providing anything other than extra cooperation in this case, [they] are just plain wrong." *