SPD Make Arrest In 23-Year-Old Infanticide Cold Case

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle police say they have arrested a woman, 23 years after she left her newborn child to die in a gas station trash can.

As SPD explains, back on Nov. 20, 1997, a woman entered a gas station Lake City Way Northeast, and left a newborn child in the bathroom trashcan. Investigators say the child had been born alive, but had died by the time it was discovered. Despite significant media attention and a concerted attempt to identify and track down the suspect, she was never found.

However, officers did find DNA evidence at the scene, which they say was instrumental in catching the suspect two decades later.

In 2018, long after the death had become a cold case, SPD decided to take up the investigation once again. By using a public genealogy website, they say they were able to find a woman who was a likely DNA match to the child, and who fit the description of their missing suspect.

An undercover operation was able to secure the woman's DNA, which officers say was a perfect match for the DNA found back in 1997.

The suspect, now 50, was arrested on Thursday. Court documents say that, when confronted, she admitted to police that she had given birth in the gas station bathroom, but abandoned the child in the trash.

She made her first court appearance on Friday, where a judge set her bail at $10,000 and found probable cause to hold her on suspicion of second degree murder. Her next court appearance will be on Monday.