A Massachusetts woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Thursday in the 1985 death of her newborn, Baby Jane Doe, whose tiny body was discovered in a gravel pit in northern Maine.
Lee Ann Daigle, 59, of Lowell, was arrested last June and charged with one count of murder, as reported by CNN.
Little Jane's body was found in Frenchville, Maine, on December 7, 1985. A Siberian Husky discovered the tiny corpse and carried her back to his owner's home, around 700 feet from where the infant was found.
"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," the dog's owner, Armand Pelletier, told the Bangor Daily News in 2014.
State detectives were able to track the canine's path to the site where the baby girl was born, before she was abandoned in below-zero temperatures in a gravel pit.
Jane, who had no clothes on, was discovered partially frozen with part of her umbilical cord still attached, according to Danna Hayes, a special agent to the Office of the Maine Attorney General.
Progress in DNA technology utilised by authorities assisted greatly in reopening the cold case, law enforcement said.
Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety, revealed genetic genealogy information helped Maine State Police identify Daigle, previously known as Lee Ann Guerette, as the little one's biological mother.
Both of the deceased child's parents were found alive, with only Daigle being charged, Hayes confirmed.
When the state police first spoke to Daigle at her Massachusetts property last year, she denied having been pregnant or living in the area at the time of her daughter's death, and refused to give a DNA sample, according to authorities.
But when authorities told her that DNA identified her as the girl's mother, Daigle confessed to giving birth in the gravel pit, according to Assistant Attorney General Lara Nomani
Daigle was released on bail from Aroostook County in August 2022, as per court documents. Her sentencing is set for June 20.
The "Safe Haven" law went into effect in Maine in 2015. This law allows mothers and fathers to surrender their babies, under 31 days old, to Safe Haven providers - which include police officers, emergency room staff, medical providers, and hospital staff.
The confidentiality of said parents is protected under the law and the Save Haven providers who take on the child cannot attempt to detain the parent.
