NYCGenealogist
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This case bothers me a great deal, and has had little to no attention here- I've only found a side mention of it in a very old post about a similar, unrelated case in the same area.
On November 4, 1999, fishermen discovered the body of a newborn baby girl was found near the docks on the shore of the Mississippi River in the town of Red Wing, Minnesota. Her umbilical cord was still attached and she was wrapped in a white towel, which was still floating in the river. She had been born alive, and dumped in the river about a week before she was found.
As we all know, dumped babies are sadly not unusual. The police tried to find the mother- at first dozens of tips were coming in, but no one matched the crime. They had either never been pregnant, or their alibis checked out. The others were exonerated by DNA.
The case went cold. A family who had lost a child "adopted" the baby girl and gave her a burial. People forgot and time went on.
Then, on the afternoon of December 7, 2003, teenaged girls on a church hike in Frontenac, a town near Red Wing, discover the body of a baby boy floating just off the shore of Lake Pepin. The police are called. Detective Pat Thompson said later:
DNA is run, in the hopes that the police will get a lead. And a match appears- to the baby discovered in 1999. According to the DNA, the two infants share a mother.
There are no leads on who this woman is. Personally, I think that she will just keep doing this again and again. Psychologists on the case characterize her as impulsive, in denial, and possibly suffering from postpartum psychosis.
The boy was buried beside his sister by the same family. Another, unrelated, infant found in similar circumstances in 2007 was also buried with them.
News link: The river of secrets around one mother and two floating Minnesota babies | City Pages
Her NAMUS entry: Unidentified Person Case
His NAMUS entry: Unidentified Person Case
On November 4, 1999, fishermen discovered the body of a newborn baby girl was found near the docks on the shore of the Mississippi River in the town of Red Wing, Minnesota. Her umbilical cord was still attached and she was wrapped in a white towel, which was still floating in the river. She had been born alive, and dumped in the river about a week before she was found.
As we all know, dumped babies are sadly not unusual. The police tried to find the mother- at first dozens of tips were coming in, but no one matched the crime. They had either never been pregnant, or their alibis checked out. The others were exonerated by DNA.
The case went cold. A family who had lost a child "adopted" the baby girl and gave her a burial. People forgot and time went on.
Then, on the afternoon of December 7, 2003, teenaged girls on a church hike in Frontenac, a town near Red Wing, discover the body of a baby boy floating just off the shore of Lake Pepin. The police are called. Detective Pat Thompson said later:
“In both cases we have the victims, apparently both dumped in the water. No witnesses and little, if any, physical evidence. Based on the facts we had at the time the second baby was discovered, we believed we had two separate cases. At least that’s what we thought.”
The only clue to the boy's identity is a blue towel found at the crime scene. He was, at the most, two weeks old.
DNA is run, in the hopes that the police will get a lead. And a match appears- to the baby discovered in 1999. According to the DNA, the two infants share a mother.
There are no leads on who this woman is. Personally, I think that she will just keep doing this again and again. Psychologists on the case characterize her as impulsive, in denial, and possibly suffering from postpartum psychosis.
The boy was buried beside his sister by the same family. Another, unrelated, infant found in similar circumstances in 2007 was also buried with them.
News link: The river of secrets around one mother and two floating Minnesota babies | City Pages
Her NAMUS entry: Unidentified Person Case
His NAMUS entry: Unidentified Person Case