Author Topic: RED WING JAMIE INFANT DOE: WF, newborn, found in Goodhue County, MN - 4 November 1999 *ARREST*  (Read 359 times)

Akoya

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A full term infant with umbilical cord still attached was found 10 yds north of the Mississippi shore near 800 Levee Dr, Redwing MN. The body showed slight signs of decomposition upon discovery. The infant had not been in the water for long. The race of the decedent is most likely white. This infant is genetically related maternally to the decedent in case# GC03-127. Authorities named her Jamie.

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Akoya

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https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4795

NamUs UP # 4795


ME/C Case Number: GC99-158
Goodhue County, Minnesota
0 to 1 year old White Female

Case Report - NamUs UP # 4795
Case Information

Status Unidentified
Case number GC99-158
Date found November 04, 1999 13:13
Date created February 09, 2009 11:29
Date last modified February 22, 2017 08:25
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed June 20, 2011 21:26

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency Southern Minnesota Regional ME Office
Phone 507-284-2121
Case Manager
Name Lindsey Thomas
Phone 612-215-6334

Demographics
Estimated age Infant
Minimum age 0 years
Maximum age 1 years
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Female
Weight (pounds) 6, Estimated
Height (inches) 21, Measured
Body Parts Inventory (Check all that apply)
All parts recovered
Body conditions
Recognizable face
Probable year of death 1999 to 1999

Circumstances
Location Found
GPS coordinates
Address 1 10 yards North of Levee Dr
Address 2
City Red Wing
State Minnesota
Zip code 55066
County Goodhue
Circumstances
A full term infant with umbilical cord still attached was found 10 yds north of the Mississippi shore near 800 Levee Dr, Redwing MN. The body showed slight signs of decomposition upon discovery. The infant had not been in the water for long. The race of the decedent is most likely white. This infant is genetically related maternally to the decedent in case# GC03-127.

Physical
Hair color Brown
Head hair
Straight, brown hair

Left eye color
Right eye color
Eye description
Irides are dark in color

No other distinctive body features

Other distinctive
physical characteristics
Feet are 8 cm in length.

Fingerprints
Status: Fingerprint information is currently not available

Other items found
with body
The body was wrapped in a towel

Dental
Status: Dental information / charting is available and entered

DNA
Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete

Akoya

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/604ufmn.html

Case File: 604UFMN
The Doe Network




Composite of the victim by NCMEC


Unidentified Female
Date of Discovery: November 4, 1999
Location of Discovery: Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota
Estimated Date of Death: 1-2 weeks prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

Estimated Age: Newborn
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 21"
Weight: 6 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown, straight.
Eye Color: Irides are dark in color.

Distinguishing Marks/Features: Feet are 8 cm in length.

Dentals: Not available.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available.
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: The body was wrapped in a towel.

Jewelry: Unknown

Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Case History
The body of a full-term infant with the umbilical cord still attached was discovered 10 yards north of the Mississippi River shore near 800 Levee Drive. Authorities named her Jamie.

Another baby, 1044UMMN, was located in 2003, and is genetically related maternally. Police believe the children had separate fathers. Investigators believe that the infants were born alive. Autopsies were never able to ascertain causes of death. The mother of the children may have hidden the pregnancies and is probably familiar with the area.

Forensic artists from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children used photographs of the bodies and the infants' skull measurements to create composite drawings of what the babies might have looked like at the time of their deaths. The clothing in the drawings is not connected to the investigation.

Authorities hope the composites can help piece together a frustrating puzzle. Over the years they have had more than 100 leads.

After the discovery of the infants, a local couple paid to have them buried next to their own stillborn daughter, under headstones that read "God's Little Angel."

Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;

Agency Name: Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Lindsey Thomas
Agency Phone Number: 507-284-2121
Agency Case Number: GC99-158
NCIC Case Number: U530018814
NamUs Case Number: UP #4795
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Information Source(s)
NamUs
WCCO News Archive

Akoya

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https://letsfindthem.wordpress.com/tag/unidentified-baby/

Two Unidentified Babies Discovered Deceased In Minnesota May Belong To The Same Mother

Authorities believe the two unidentified babies below may have the same biological mother. Although, they believed they had separate fathers. Both were discovered deceased in Minnesota less than three years apart.



Baby #1

Forensic artists from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children used photographs of the bodies and the infants’ skull measurements to create composite drawings of what the babies might have looked like at the time of their deaths.

The first victim was discovered on December 7, 2003 in Old Frontenac, Goodhue County, Minnesota

Estimated Date of Death: No more than two weeks, no less than two days.

Estimated age: Newborn (less than 48 hours old)
Hair: Curly, black hair.
Approximate Height/Weight: 14″; 7 lbs.

The unidentified baby boy was discovered on December 7, 2003 in Florence Township Beach in Frontenac, MN.

NCIC Number for baby number one:
U860017958 (Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.)

The case may be related to another unidentified newborn found in Red Wing in 1999.



Reconstruction of Victim by NCMEC – NOTE: Outfits shown in the age-progressed photos are not the actual outfits worn during discovery.)

The infant is a girl and she was located November 4, 1999 on the bank of the Mississippi River, in the small boat harbor in Red Wing, MN, a little over three years before the discovery of the boy. She was given the name Jamie.

Time of death: At-least 48 hours prior to discovery but no longer than two weeks.

Authorities think the composites could help piece together a frustrating puzzle. Over the years they have had over a 100 leads, yet the investigations remain unsolved.
Investigators believed that the infants were born alive. Autopsies were never able to ascertain causes of death. Officials believe that mother of the children may have hidden the pregnancies and is probably familiar with the area or possibly still living in the local areas.

After the discovery of both babies, a local couple paid to have them buried next to their own stillborn daughter, under headstones that read “God’s Little Angel.“

NCIC Number for baby number two:
U530018814 (Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.)

Agency Case Number for baby number one: GO03-127
Agency Case Number fpr baby number two: GC99-158
If you have any information about these unidentified children please contact:
Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office
Lindsey Thomas
651-480-4253
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Akoya

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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t29036.htm

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_5534533

Goodhue County, Minn.
Infant's body likely in river for months
Sheriff widens investigation; couple will provide for burial

BY JOHN BREWER and RHODA FUKUSHIMA
Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 03/27/2007 11:33:03 PM CDT


The body of a newborn girl likely drifted in the Mississippi River for months before she was found Monday near the Treasure Island Resort Casino marina, according to the Goodhue County sheriff's office.

An initial autopsy report did not reveal the cause of the girl's death.

Scott McNurlin, chief deputy for the county, said the girl had been in the water since late fall or early winter. Injuries to the body, including broken bones, likely happened in the river.

"It changes the whole focus of the investigation," McNurlin said. Initially, investigators were looking for leads from within the past few weeks related to the dumping of the body. Now, they will expand that timeframe.

The discovery Monday marks the third time in eight years that a newborn's body has turned up on the banks of the Mississippi in Goodhue County.

In 1999, a boater found a newborn girl near a marina in Red Wing. And in 2003, a newborn boy was found near Frontenac.

NNeither child was ever identified, nor was a cause of death determined. The sheriff's office is forming a task force to review the incidents. The group will include agencies from Wisconsin, Dakota County, the city of Red Wing, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI.

McNurlin said finding three bodies in the same stretch of river - albeit over an eight-year span - is "certainly an anomaly."

"It's a stretch of 15 miles, and we have three of these incidents. It's just unbelievable," McNurlin said.

Investigators don't know whether the three incidents are related. Any DNA tests would require a sample from a parent for comparison.

No parents have been identified in any of the cases.

McNurlin added that it was strange that the latest baby appeared to have been born healthy yet wasn't turned over to a hospital or government agency for care.

"That's the difficulty for the community and ourselves here. It appears to be a full-term baby," he said.

Safe Place For Newborns / Laure Krupp, executive director of Safe Place for Newborns, said the death is an unnecessary tragedy.

Under the Safe Place for Newborns law, enacted in April 2003, a mother or immediate family member of a newborn can place the unharmed child into the hands of a hospital employee on hospital grounds with complete anonymity during the first three days of the child's life.

Minnesota was the third state to adopt such legislation. Now, 47 states have similar laws.

According to Krupp, at least a dozen babies have been turned over to hospitals in Minnesota since the law took effect. Hospitals are not required to report when a child is turned over, and the state does not collect information about children turned in under the law.

Krupp said her group has compiled numbers by polling hospitals, and it gets the word out about the law by informing health care providers, schools and social service agencies.

"We wanted one more alternative to a mother placing her child in a river or a trash can," Krupp said. "Sadly, there are times people know of resources but choose not to use them."

Laying Baby Doe To Rest / Jeanne Madtson wishes the mother of the latest baby had taken advantage of the law. The Red Wing woman and her husband, Don, have stepped forward to provide burial for the abandoned girl - just as they did with the other two babies found in the river.

Pending approval of authorities, the Madtsons hope to lay the baby to rest in their family plot at Oakwood Cemetery. They buried their stillborn daughter, Ann Marie, there in 1989.

"One baby is bad enough," Jeanne Madtson said. "Then, you get two. And now three. This is just unreal. It's heartbreaking."

Madtson said she worries about the precedent.

"It's like people know 'if we drop them (babies) in the river at Red Wing, someone will take care of them,' " she said. "That's not what I want. I don't want to keep burying dead babies."

In the past, the couple received donations of money and services that helped defray burial costs, which came to about $1,200 to $1,500 in 2004, Don Madtson said. They donated the remaining proceeds to the Goodhue County sheriff's office.

"It didn't even cross my mind that this could happen again," Jeanne Madtson said.

John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093 or jbrewer@pioneerpress.com.

More Information

The Goodhue County sheriff's office will hold a news conference on the cases at 11 a.m. today at the county law enforcement center, 430 W. Sixth St., Red Wing.

Anyone with information about any of the cases can call the sheriff's office at 651-385-3155.

"We wanted one more alternative to a mother placing her child in a river or a trash can. Sadly, there are times people know of resources but choose not to use them."

Laure Krupp, executive director, Safe Place for Newborns

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http://www.startribune.com/local/15466916.html

Images of Red Wing infants reconstructed
Last update: February 8, 2008 - 11:37 PM


RED WING, MINN. - The Goodhue County Sheriff's Office has released composite images of three infants found dead along the Mississippi River from 1999 to 2007, hoping they will spur new leads in cases that have stymied investigators for years.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created the images, which represent how the babies might have appeared in their first year. Forensic artists prepared the images based on photos that local authorities took.

"We're trying to do everything in our power and trying to think outside the box on solving this case," Sheriff's Capt. Pat Thompson told the Red Wing Republican Eagle.

Sheriff Dean Albers said he hopes one of the images might spark a memory for someone who could provide investigators with new information.

In 1999, two fishermen spotted a baby girl's body floating near Bay Point Park. Four years later, a group of teenagers discovered the body of a newborn boy along the water in Old Frontenac, Minn., and last year, two workers at a Prairie Island marina found another body of a baby girl.

Authorities believe the babies found in 1999 and 2003 probably came from the same mother. They don't believe the baby found last year is related to the first two.

Thompson said the Sheriff's Office has developed about 100 leads, and said investigators are currently working on what he called a promising lead.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Akoya

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http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S341457.shtml?cat=10226

New Pictures in Red Wing Baby Cases

(KAAL)--- New pictures released today may bring investigators one-step closer to solving the cases of three babies, thrown into the Mississippi River.

Over the last eight years, three infants have been found dead in the waters of the river, but how they got there, and who's to blame is still a mystery.

Now pictures of what these children used to look like may help solve the case.

The pictures show the faces of the three babies found dead in the Mississippi River.

"The pictures make you stop and pause and take a look...it actually put more of a human face on it than when we found their remains before," said Goodhue County Sheriff Dean Albers.

The forensic drawings, put together by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, are based on the human remains of the infants found dead along the river within the last 8 years.

One infant female was found in 1999 in Red Wing.

The second baby, a boy was found in and the last baby, another female was found just last March at Treasure Island Marina.

Sheriff Albers says they have a new lead.

Earlier in the week they received a tip that someone may be linked to one of the cases.

They took DNA samples from that person and they expect to get results within 2-3 weeks.

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http://www.twincities.com/ci_8212622?source=rss

Red Wing, Minn. / Sheriff hopes images help solve mystery of 3 dead newborns
Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 02/09/2008 12:03:24 AM CST


The Goodhue County sheriff's office released composite sketches Friday of three babies found dead in Mississippi River waters near Red Wing the past eight years.

Sheriff Dean Albers released the images hoping someone would come forward with information.

"The idea is to put a face on these babies, to let people know that they were real people," he said.

The first baby - a newborn girl - turned up in a Red Wing marina in 1999, followed by a newborn boy in Lake Pepin in 2003 and another newborn girl in the Treasure Island Resort & Casino marina in 2007. The sheriff's office has made several appeals for information and has received about 100 leads. None has panned out.

The first two infants had the same mother and were almost certainly white, authorities concluded based on DNA tests. The third infant was not related to the first two and was most likely of American Indian descent.

Albers said his office recently has taken DNA samples from several people, including one woman.

The images were created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children based on photos of the dead children.

Anyone with information may contact the sheriff's office at 651-385-3155.

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A full term infant with umbilical cord still attached was found 10 yds north of the Mississippi shore near 800 Levee Dr, Redwing MN.



800 Levee Rd, Red Wing, MN

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800 Levee Dr, Redwing MN.





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https://www.twincities.com/2022/05/09/red-wing-woman-charged-two-decades-after-newborns-found-dead-in-mississippi-river/

Red Wing woman charged two decades after newborns found dead in Mississippi River

RED WING, Minn. — A Red Wing woman has been arrested and charged in the death of her newborn who was abandoned in the Mississippi River nearly 20 years ago, and in a criminal complaint acknowledged abandoning another newborn whose body was found in the river four years earlier, state and local officials said Monday.

Investigators used advances in DNA technology and genealogical research to link the newborns to the woman, and community donations helped to pay for testing to resolve the cold case.

Jennifer Matter, 50, of Red Wing, was charged with second-degree murder in the 2003 death of a newborn boy whose body was found in Frontenac on the shore of Lake Pepin, where the Mississippi River widens. The child’s umbilical cord was wrapped about his body, the complaint said.

According to court documents, Matter told investigators she abandoned another newborn in 1999 in the river. 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 said she was living in Red Wing in 2003 and had gone to the beach to be alone because she was trying to lie low due to a pending arrest warrant, according to the complaint.

Matter told investigators 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 near Red Wing, and it was also determined through DNA to be Matter’s child, officials said.

“When asked to explain what was going on in her life in 1999, she said that she was in a bad mental state. She stated that she was in and out of jail, drinking too much, doing a lot of stupid things, and had experienced chaotic life circumstances for a long time,” the complaint 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 near the Treasure Island casino and resort in Welch. DNA testing at the time indicated that newborn girl was not related to the other two babies, officials said.

All three babies are buried together in Red Wing’s Oakwood Cemetery, after a local couple, Don and Jeanne Madtson, donated the graves and a tombstone in their family plot.

Under Minnesota’s Safe Place for Newborns law, enacted in 2000, a mother or immediate family member of a newborn can place the unharmed child into the hands of a hospital employee on hospital grounds with complete anonymity during the first three days of the child’s life.

Scorpio

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Photograph of Jennifer Lynn Matter.



Jennifer Matter, 50, of Red Wing, Minn., was charged with second-degree murder in the 2003 death of a newborn boy whose body was found in Frontenac on the shore of the Mississippi River. According to court documents, Matter also told investigators she abandoned another newborn in 1999 in the Mississippi near Red Wing. A third infant found in the river was not related to the other two babies, according to DNA analysis.

https://www.twincities.com/2022/05/09/red-wing-woman-charged-two-decades-after-newborns-found-dead-in-mississippi-river/

Scorpio

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https://abcnews.go.com/US/minnesota-woman-accused-abandoning-newborns-charged-murder/story?id=84618765

Minnesota woman accused of abandoning newborns charged with murder

A Minnesota woman was charged in connection with the death of her newborn son, almost 20 years after the infant was discovered along a stretch of the Mississippi River, police say. Another infant, found years earlier under similar circumstances, has also been linked by police to the woman.

Jennifer Lynn Matter, 50, is charged with two counts of second degree murder in connection with the December 2003 death of her newborn son.

Four years before the body of her son was discovered along the river, police had found a female infant's body in the river. Investigators had suspected the two infants were siblings and their DNA profiles were run against criminal databases over the years to find their parents, but no match had been found, Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told reporters during a press conference.

Genetic genealogy ultimately provided the lead that led to Matter's arrest by connecting officers to two persons of interest, Evans said. Investigators learned of a relative of the children in Goodhue County, Minnesota, and then worked to narrow their search, identifying Matter as the most "logical and likely" mother, he said.

Matter of Red Wing, Minnesota, had declined to voluntarily provide police with a DNA sample, according to the complaint. After obtaining a search warrant for the sample, police were able to identify Matter as the mother of the two children, the complaint says.

Charges have not been filed against Matter in connection with the 1999 death of Matter's infant daughter, Stephen O'Keefe, the Goodhue County attorney, said at a press conference Monday. He declined to give a reason, but said the investigation is ongoing. Charges could be added or amended at a later time as more evidence comes to light, he said.

Information on an attorney for Matter was not immediately available.

During a bail hearing on Tuesday, a judge denied Matter’s application for a public defender, according to ABC affiliate KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her bail was set at $1.5 million without conditions, according to court records.

Investigators interviewed Matter on May 5, which is when she admitted the child born in November 1999 was hers, according to the criminal complaint. Matter told investigators she was in a bad mental state that year saying she was "in and out of jail, drinking too much, doing a lot of stupid things and had experienced chaotic life circumstances for a long time," the complaint says.

Matter told investigators she was not aware she was pregnant when she started bleeding after dropping off her two other children, the complaint says. When she returned home, she said she began giving birth in the bathroom, according to the complaint.

She said the baby was born blue, was not breathing and was not crying so she "freaked out," according to the complaint. Matter said she wrapped the child in a towel while she tried to figure out what to do. She said she was drinking heavily, according to the complaint.

Matter told investigators that a day later she drove the baby to Bay Point Park in Red Wing in the middle of the night and put her in the water, the complaint says.

A boater found the baby wrapped in a towel in the water, according to the complaint.

An autopsy of the newborn concluded that the manner of death was homicide, but the cause of death was undetermined, the complaint shows.

Matter said she gave birth to the second baby on a beach in nearby Florence Township in December 2003 while she was "laying low" because there was a warrant out for her arrest and she believed cops were looking for her, the complaint revealed.

Matter said she remembered leaving the baby on the beach before driving away, the complaint says.

Matter later told investigators the child was breathing and may have been crying, but she did not remember it. Matter said she did not call 911 and hoped someone in the houses nearby would find the baby, according to the complaint.

A group of teenagers found the infant's body along the shoreline of the river, the complaint shows.

An autopsy found that the male infant had force head injuries, "possibly due to the birth process," according to the complaint. The infant's manner of death was determined to be homicide, but the cause of death was undetermined, according to the complaint.