The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota used DNA testing to solve the cold case of “Rachel Marie Doe,” a newborn baby found dead on a roadside in Blaine 42 years ago.
The baby girl was discovered with her placenta still attached on January 21, 1983, between Highway 65 and Radisson Road. No one was able to identify the child, and an autopsy conducted at the time was unable to determine if she was born alive or stillborn. The community held a funeral for the infant, and she was buried at a local church cemetery, Bring Me The News reported.
The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office revisited the case after launching its Cold Case Unit in 2024 and sent a sample of the baby’s umbilical cord for genealogical testing. Authorities were able to determine possible matches to the little girl’s mother and father. The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative’s National Cold Case Initiative funded the testing, according to the report.
“After 42 years, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office’s Cold Case Unit has successfully identified the parents of this child, whose story weighed heavily on the hearts of the community back in 1983, as well as today,” Sheriff Brad Wise said in a press release on Wednesday. “Many law enforcement professionals throughout these decades have worked to bring answers to this sad situation, and we are proud to give all who were affected by this story some closure.”
Detectives met with the baby’s mother in July 2025. The woman told them she gave birth to a baby by herself at her parents’ home as a teenager, and no one knew she was pregnant.
She told authorities the baby was unresponsive when she was born, and she left her on the side of the road in a panic, hoping someone would find her, the press release from the sheriff’s office details. The mother said she never told anyone about her pregnancy or what happened to her baby until she spoke with detectives, and those close to the mother who spoke with law enforcement said they had no knowledge of the situation, the sheriff’s office said.
Detectives said they interviewed the baby’s father, and he was unaware of the child or the pregnancy until law enforcement informed him.
After reopening the case, a forensic pathologist with the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office reexamined the original autopsy and came to the same conclusion that they could not conclude whether the baby was born alive or stillborn, the sheriff’s office said.
“We are fortunate for the advancements in technology as well as the continuing efforts of law enforcement in bringing this case to a closure. Our Blaine community was greatly affected by this case and our hearts remain with Baby Rachel Doe and all those affected by this case,” Blaine Police Department Chief Brian Podany said. “Thank you to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit as well as the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative’s National Cold Case Initiative, and Othram for the support and efforts for justice and closure in this decades-long investigation.”
The sheriff’s office submitted the case to the Anoka County Attorney’s Office for possible charges applicable to 1983 laws, but no charges were ultimately filed. The sheriff’s office said no charges were filed against the mother “[d]ue to the lack of evidence showing a homicide was committed, and any applicable statute of limitations pertaining to the disposal of human remains having long expired…”
The sheriff’s office declined to release the identities of the parents because no arrests occurred and no formal charges were filed.
“Top prosecutors in our office reviewed this case for potential charges. The evidence and the interests of justice do not support the filing of any criminal charges in this case, and we respect this family’s privacy now that our work is done,” Anoka County Attorney Brad Johnson said. “We appreciate all the care and attention that the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office have given to this case and to answer the questions that surrounded the discovery of this child.”
Minnesota did not pass its Safe Haven law until 2000. The law was expanded in 2012 to allow mothers to surrender unharmed newborns face-to-face at hospitals, urgent care clinics, and via ambulance up to seven days after birth instead of three days.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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