Girl asks Cumberland police to test DNA on cookie for evidence of Santa Claus
CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WJAR) — Cumberland Police Chief Matt Benson was surprised when a package arrived just after Christmas. Inside: a letter from a 10-year-old girl, telling them she took a sample of a cookie and carrots left for Santa and the reindeer, and was wondering if they could take a sample of the DNA and see if Santa's real.
"It's an incredible first, and we're excited,” said Benson, with a straight face, in an office police conference room, that gives the impression that serious inquiries only will be entertained here. “We put together an evidence packet and sent it to the State Forensic Unit,” he added, noting “we want to foster her curiosity and her investigative skills."
Her name is redacted from the hand-written letter on yellow legal paper shown to NBC 10 News by police because they hadn't reached out to the family yet, and the investigation is ongoing.
How far is the Cumberland Police Department going with its investigation? They showed us a “surveillance image of a reindeer in that vicinity that night.” And “we do have information of an individual that was observed in the area matching the description of what people would consider would be Santa Claus. We've tracked that individual down, and we're hoping to interview him maybe this week or next."
Just as the on-camera interview wrapped up, there was a hit on social media, from the girl's mom, thanking the Cumberland police for picking up the case.
Doing our own investigative work, we tracked down the family, called the mom. She said, "Come on over!"
Alyson Doumato, sitting in a large suburban kitchen, smiled sitting next to her daughter and husband. She looked at her and said, “She's always a little bit skeptical, and looking for the facts."
Meet budding detective Scarlett Doumato, who has her own lab of sorts at home. An instruction booklet for how to use the Wacky Lab home detective kit sat on her desktop. There was residue of concoctions she had mixed in test tubes, along with a mini-blender, sitting on her desktop, amongst other detective-like clutter.
"I watch crime shows, and I thought it was like cool to be a detective."
I asked her if fourth grade and 10 years old is too early to be thinking about a career. She said "yeah" with a laugh, and a chuckle from her mom too framed the conversation.
The open case is being pursued by Cumberland police, that promise to get to the bottom of the mystery.
"Maybe there's a debate that needs to be settled, but we'll do our part to believe and keep that dream alive," said Benson.
Her mom asked her, "What would you like the verdict to be?" To which Scarlett pensively replied, "that he's real."
We're staying on the case, too.