Age : 40
Residence : North Union, Fayette County
Family : Wife, Michelle; children, Maria, 15, Jimmy, 11, and Mia, 5
Background : Pierce, a state police criminal investigator, is a native of the Uniontown area who graduated from Laurel Highlands High School. He coaches football, wrestling and baseball at Marshall Elementary School. His interests include bowhunting and trout fishing.
Noteworthy : Pierce is one of the recipients of the 2009 Law Enforcement Agency Director's Award. The regional awards go to federal, state and local police officers in Western Pennsylvania who distinguish themselves. Pierce was honored for solving the 9-year-old slaying of "Baby Mary," a newborn found dead on June 4, 2000, in a Fayette County creek. No arrests had been made when Pierce took up the case in February 2007 and began re-interviewing suspects. Believing the mother was from the area, he expanded his search. In June 2008, he interviewed a state inmate who was living in the area when the death occurred. That inmate told him that Warren Bircher, 35, of Adah had said at a party in 2000 that one of his girlfriends was pregnant and that he was going to put the infant in a bag and drown it in the river. Further interviews provided evidence that Bircher helped Sarah Hawk of Uniontown deliver the baby and put her in the creek, officials said. DNA tests confirmed Hawk as the mother, authorities said. She pleaded guilty to third-degree homicide in return for cooperating in the prosecution of Bircher, her former brother-in-law. Bircher is awaiting trial. Hawk was 16 when she had the baby.
Quote : "Being from the area, the case always bothered me — that it went unsolved."
