Baby Was Found Dead in 1981. DNA Just Led to a Suspect

A cold case that began behind a North Dakota college dorm in 1981 has led to a murder charge against a 65-year-old Arizona woman, People reports. Prosecutors in Barnes County have charged Nancy Jean Trottier with Class AA felony murder in the death of her newborn, whose body was discovered by Valley City State University that April with a plastic bag over her head and the umbilical cord still attached, authorities say. An autopsy at the time found the baby—nicknamed "Rebecca" by investigators—had been born alive and died of asphyxia.

The case sat dormant for decades until DNA testing advanced. The baby's remains were exhumed in 2019, and genetic genealogy work in 2020 pointed investigators toward Trottier, who was then interviewed in 2021. According to an affidavit cited by multiple outlets including KX News and Valley News Live, an emotional Trottier told investigators, "Maybe it was me," and agreed to provide a DNA sample. A 2023 report concluded it was quadrillions of times more likely that Trottier and her husband were the baby's parents than unrelated individuals, and that Trottier's DNA matched that found on tissue paper recovered at the scene. She's being held in North Dakota and has a preliminary hearing and arraignment set for May 21; her attorney disputes the strength of the case.