WINONA, Minn. — More than a decade after a two-day-old infant was found dead and floating in the Mississippi River near Winona, investigators appear to have narrowed their search for the identity of the baby's mother.
The baby girl was found by boaters Sept. 5, 2011 in a white tote bag that was floating in the water about 7 miles south of the Highway 43 bridge linking Minnesota and Wisconsin. The 7-pound baby was found swaddled under a green T-shirt inside two plastic bags. Four small porcelain angels and a seeing eye bracelet were also in the bag.
Dubbed by the community, “Baby Angel,” she was given a burial and gravestone at Woodlawn Cemetery. More than 150 people attended the ceremony.
According to a medical examiner's report, the infant was full term and appeared free of natural and inflicted defects. However, an autopsy showed the infant had several fractures on the front and side of skull with no visible bruising where the fractures occurred, reports show.
Investigators with the Winona County Sheriff’s Office have been working with a forensic genealogy company to identify the infant and her parents. A search warrant filed in Winona County District Court on March 19, 2024 indicates the company has helped them narrow their search to a woman who is a possible match for Baby Angel’s mother.
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According to court records, Firebird Forensics Group provided the sheriff’s office with a possible lead to a 41-year-old woman living in Winona in March 2023. The sheriff’s office conducted a search of the woman’s trash. According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension test, a DNA sample from the trash shows the woman is a possible biological match with a blood sample taken from the infant. However, the report also says discarded samples are not considered known samples to be used for direct comparison in an investigation.
The sheriff’s office is now asking for permission to obtain a DNA sample directly from the woman.
According to the warrant, investigators asked the woman to voluntarily submit a sample. The woman said she would need to look into the company doing the testing before she would agree and never got back to investigators. When sheriff’s office staff followed up, she said she had not yet done the research. Later, the sheriff’s office received a letter from an attorney advising investigators that future contact with the woman should be done through the law firm.
The warrant asks the court to compel the woman to provide investigators with a DNA sample.
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