Jennifer Matter.Photo: Goodhue County Jail
A Minnesota woman is under arrest for allegedly murdering a newborn found 19 years ago along a reservoir off the Mississippi River –– and authorities say she’s also the mother of a second dead newborn pulled from the river four years earlier.
DNA finally linked the woman, Jennifer Lynn Matter, 50, of Red Wing, to the mystery of the unknown victims last week, authoritiesannounced Monday.
The criminal charges are connected to a male newborn discovered dead along the beach of the reservoir known as Lake Pepin, in Frontenac, Minn., on Dec. 7, 2003. An autopsy determined the infant “was a full-term newborn male infant who was probably born alive,” and listed the manner of death as homicide, according to acriminal complaint.
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Four years earlier, on Nov. 4, 1999, a witness had discovered a deceased infant wrapped in a white towel floating near a small boat harbor on the river in Red Wing. The umbilical cord appeared to still be attached to the female child; again, the autopsy determined the manner of death as homicide.
But both mysteries went cold until September 2020, when a detective newly assigned to the case plugged information from the two infants' DNA into public genealogy databases, which pointed toward two persons of interest who could be related to the 1999 infant.
Through DNA samples, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Crime Lab was able to identify the biological father –– and from there, according to authorities, officers found Matter.
When questioned, Matter initially denied being the mother or even being pregnant in 1999. But she declined to give a DNA sample, until a search warrant compelled her to do so on May 2.
When confronted May 5 with findings that concluded “the genetic results obtained from the unidentified male infant are 8.3 million times more likely to occur in a biological child of Jennifer Lynn Matter than in someone unrelated,” Matter opened up about her life in 1999.
She said “she was in a bad mental state … [and] 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,” according to the criminal complaint. She told officers she didn’t know she was pregnant when she began to bleed, and that after dropping her two other children off at school and daycare, she went home and gave birth in the bathroom.
Although Matter is only charged in the latter case, Goodhue County Attorney Steve O’Keefe said he is still weighing whether to charge her in the earlier death of the child who Matter claimed was born “blue,” reportsMinnesota Public Radio.
“Genetic genealogy and Rapid DNA testing were both employed to develop a break in the case and then quickly confirm the identity of the babies' mother,” said Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans. “These kinds of scientific advances that can aid investigations are happening all the time. That is why it is so important to never give up on any unsolved case.”
The criminal complaint accuses Matter of second-degree murder with Intent not premeditated, and second-degree murder without intent. She is currently being held at the Goodhue County jail without bond. Online jail records did not list an attorney who might be able to comment on her behalf.
source: people.com
