Prosecutors plan to seek an aggravated sentence for the suspected mother accused of killing “Baby Angel,” the newborn whose body was discovered more than a decade ago in the Mississippi River near Winona, Minn.
Jennifer Baechle, 43, of Winona was charged in April with two counts of second-degree manslaughter in the death of the days-old child.
The charges were brought against her after a DNA analysis found strong evidence suggesting she was the biological mother of the newborn.
In a filing dated late June, prosecutors said they now plan to seek a harsher sentence against Baechle because of the “particular cruelty” of the case. Boaters in 2011 found the newborn with a fractured skull that investigators believe was sustained while the child was still alive.
“It is unknown whether the Victim was placed into the river while she was alive,” the prosecution wrote. “However, the disposal of the baby demonstrated sophistication and planning [and] needlessly created trauma for the people that found the baby floating in the river.”
In seeking a harsher penalty, prosecutors also noted the vulnerability of the child, given the baby’s age. They added that the concealment of the crime for more than 13 years also supported an aggravated sentence.
“The community was traumatized by the victim’s death in 2011,” they wrote. “Services were held to mourn the Victim, and law enforcement was forced to expend resources to discover Defendant’s identity. [Baechle] continued to live her life in the community and did not take responsibility for her actions.”
After years of dead ends, investigators were led to Baechle in 2023 by a nonprofit forensic group that linked her to the newborn.
