Red Wing woman pleads guilty in death of newborn baby found along Mississippi River
A 50-year-old Red Wing woman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of a baby found on a Mississippi River beach nearly 20 years ago.
Jennifer Lynn Matter was charged last year in the 2003 death of the newborn boy after DNA evidence identified her as the mother of that child, as well as a newborn girl, found dead several years earlier.
Matter faces sentencing on April 28.
Authorities in Goodhue County discovered the body of the newborn girl at a river marina near Red Wing in 1999. In 2003, they found the newborn boy dead on a beach near Frontenac. The high-profile deaths remained a mystery for years, until authorities used DNA to determine the children had the same mother. They identified Matter through geneological research, stretching back to Germany in the 1850s.
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Matter later told investigators that the girl had been stillborn, but that boy was alive when she abandoned him on the beach, minutes after giving birth. Matter told investigators she’d been drinking heavily, that police had a warrant for her arrest at the time, and that she hoped someone would find and rescue the baby when she drove away — although temperatures in southern Minnesota the night of the birth were in the 20s. She already had two children at the time and told investigators she didn’t tell anyone about the pregnancies.
Matter was arrested last May and charged only in the death of the baby boy.
A plea agreement filed in the case said prosecutors will dismiss one of the two murder counts against her, and will not seek a sentence enhancement. Minnesota law makes crimes against children eligible for added prison sentences.
Guidelines call for a maximum 27-year prison term, but court documents indicate Matter will ask for less time. Matter will remain free while she awaits sentencing.
There was also a third infant found dead in the river in Goodhue County — in March 2007, near the Treasure Island casino and resort. DNA testing at the time indicated that newborn girl was not related to the other two babies.