Mystery of newborn’s death solved 36 years after baby girl’s body was carried by a dog to its owners’ home
THE three-decade mystery of a newborn’s death has finally been solved after a key arrest was made. Lee Ann Daigle, 58, was charged on Tuesday with the murder of her infant daughter who froze to death in Maine in 1985. Daigle, who was living in Massachusetts at the time of her arrest, waived extradition and […]
THE three-decade mystery of a newborn’s death has finally been solved after a key arrest was made.
Lee Ann Daigle, 58, was charged on Tuesday with the murder of her infant daughter who froze to death in Maine in 1985.
Daigle, who was living in Massachusetts at the time of her arrest, waived extradition and was brought to Maine and she is currently being held at the Aroostook County Jail.
The baby’s body was discovered by a dog, who dragged “Baby Jane Doe’s” body about 700 feet to its owner’s home in Frenchville, said state police, sparking the beginning of a mystery that would last 36 years.
“She kept pounding at the door’s window to get back in,” said Armand Pelletier, the dog’s owner, to the Bangor Daily News in 2014.
“She kept pounding, and after a while, I went to go look, and I could not believe what I saw. I saw what looked like a little rag doll, but then we saw it was a frozen little baby.”
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It was determined that the baby girl was born and then abandoned in below-zero temperatures at a gravel pit, said police.
“It was so cold, just very, very cold,” said Maine State Police Major Charles Love in 2014. “I was not the first officer on the scene, but I was one of the earliest. I was walking the scene, trying to gather information.
“It was so quiet in that gravel pit, and it appeared that a vehicle had driven in, as the tracks were very clear in the snow. Right near them were plainly a set of dog tracks. I turned and followed those paw prints right back to the house, where it had dropped the baby right by the door.”
Advancements in DNA technology and genetic genealogy helped solve the cold case.
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“This case was the culmination of decades worth of investigative work from dozens of now retired and current detectives who never gave up finding answers and justice for Baby Jane Doe,” said state police in a Facebook post after Daigle was arrested.
The statement continued, adding that two detectives “have chased every lead and spent countless hours working and following new leads that helped identify Baby Jane Doe’s mother.”
The infant’s mother made her first court appearance on Tuesday over Zoom video.
Since 2015, there is a law in Maine that allows parents to surrender a child less than 31 days old to approved safe haven providers, including law enforcement officers, medical service providers and hospitals.
