Suspected mother charged in abandoned Minnesota newborn’s 2011 death

A woman has been charged in the killing of a newborn known as “Baby Angel,” whose body was found in 2011 in the Mississippi River near Winona, Minn.

Jennifer Baechle, 43, of Winona was charged Thursday in Winona County District Court with two counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Baechle was being held in Winona County jail on a $20,000 conditional bond that stipulates she be under GPS supervision until her next court date.

Investigators were led to Baechle, who is believed to be the infant’s mother, in March 2023 after a DNA analysis from a nonprofit forensic group linked her to the newborn.

When Baechle initially did not cooperate with investigators, Winona County sheriff’s deputies searched the trash at her home and found a discarded hygiene product with DNA that matched the infant’s, according to the criminal complaint.

An analysis of a DNA sample taken from Baechle in March 2024 by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) confirmed there was “very strong evidence to support the biological relationship” between her and the baby, the complaint says.

“We don’t have all of the answers, but we know who is responsible,” Winona County Sheriff Ron Ganrude said at a Thursday news conference. “And today’s charges are a first step in holding her accountable.”

Boaters on the river a few miles south of Winona found the infant’s body floating in a canvas bag and wrapped in two airtight plastic bags on Sept. 5, 2011.

The 2-day-old girl, with a roughly cut umbilical cord and a fractured skull, was wrapped in a T-shirt. Also in the canvas bag were two music box angels and an angel bell.

An updated 2024 autopsy review concluded the infant likely sustained the injuries while she was alive.

Baechle’s family members later told deputies that a blue pendant found in the bag belonged to her, the complaint says. The family members, who said they had not had contact with Baechle in 2011, also told investigators that she had a history of collecting angel ornaments.

“For more than 13 years, Baby Angel’s tragic death weighed heavily on the hearts of the Winona community,” Ganrude said. “She deserved better than a watery grave. She deserved more than a life cut short.”

About six months after the infant was found, more than 150 community members gathered to have her buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Winona. Her headstone includes her incomplete story and the words, “God bless all the baby angels out there in the world.”

“While today’s arrest and charges cannot bring her back, we do hope that this development can help this community heal,” said Cathy Knutson, deputy superintendent of forensic science services at the BCA.

Investigators said Thursday that DNA analysis has not confirmed who the baby’s father is.

Baechle, now a married mother of two, is due back in court on July 7. If convicted, she faces a prison term of 48 months under Minnesota sentencing guidelines.