Mother of 2 babies found dead charged with murder in 1 case

Washington, May 9 (AP): A Minnesota woman has been arrested and charged in the death of her newborn who was abandoned at a lake nearly 20 years ago, and she is the mother of another baby whose body was found in the Mississippi River years earlier, state and local officials said Monda.

Mother of 2 babies found dead charged with murder in 1 case

Washington, May 9 (AP): A Minnesota woman has been arrested and charged in the death of her newborn who was abandoned at a lake nearly 20 years ago, and she is the mother of another baby whose body was found in the Mississippi River years earlier, state and local officials said Monday.

Jennifer Matter, 50, of Red Wing, was charged with two separate counts of second-degree murder in the December 2003 death of one of the babies whose body was found in Frontenac on the shore of Lake Pepin, a body of water on the Mississippi River. His umbilical cord was wrapped about his body, the complaint said.

According to court documents, Matter is also the mother of another infant, a girl, found in the Mississippi River in 1999, although charges have not been filed in that case, which is still under review.

“For over 20 years, the deaths of these innocent babies have haunted our community and the countless law enforcement officers who have worked tirelessly on this case,” Goodhue County Sheriff Marty Kelly said at a news conference.

When investigators interviewed Matter on May 5, she stated she was living in Red Wing in 2003 and had gone to the beach to be alone because she was trying to lay low due to a pending arrest warrant, according to the complaint.

Matter stated that she did not remember if she wrapped the baby in a towel or a blanket, but that it was dark and cold and she did remember leaving the newborn on the beach before driving away.

She said she hoped someone who lived nearby would find him alive, the complaint says.

In the 1999 case, the newborn girl was found dead at a marina along the Mississippi River near Red Wing, and it was also determined through DNA to be Matter's child, officials said.

Goodhue County Attorney Steve O'Keefe said he was still considering whether to charge her in that death. Matter told investigators that the girl was not breathing when she was born.

Genetic genealogy and rapid DNA testing helped break the case and confirm the identity of the mother, said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

“They used publicly available records to look for possible relatives of these children,” Evans said.

Investigators obtained a warrant to get a DNA sample from Matter and scientists with the BCA were able to confirm the match to both children, he added.

Kelly said $10,000 in donations from the community, raised in a matter of days, helped pay for the DNA testing.

In March 2007, a third infant was found dead in the Mississippi River near the Treasure Island casino and resort. DNA testing at the time indicated that newborn girl was not related to the other two babies, officials said. (AP) VM

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)