Law enforcement arrested a woman linked to the cold case of a baby who was found dead on a college campus in North Dakota 45 years ago.
DNA testing linked 65-year-old Nancy Jean Trottier to the baby — called “Rebecca” by authorities — who was found behind the Valley City University campus in April 1981, People reported. Trottier was a student at the school from 1978 to 1982. Online jail records reviewed by the outlet show the Barnes County State Attorney’s Office filed a Class AA felony murder charge against Trottier on April 7.
Baby Rebecca was found with a plastic bag over her face and her umbilical cord still attached, according to the report. An autopsy found that she was born alive and died from acute asphyxia, or suffocation.
The case was cold for decades until advancements in DNA technology allowed law enforcement to reopen the case. Investigators had the baby’s body exhumed in 2019 so they could extract DNA from her remains before reburying her.
The resulting genetic genealogy report led to possible relatives of Rebecca by August 2020 and eventually led investigators to Trottier, according to the report.
Investigators interviewed Trottier in October 2021, when she allegedly told them “Maybe it was me,” and “It could be, maybe it was me.”
Trottier and her husband provided investigators a DNA sample in December 2021.
“A DNA analysis returned in June 2023 concluded that it is 3.481 quadrillion times more likely that the baby is the biological child of Trottier and her husband than an unrelated individual,” the report states, citing an affidavit.
The forensic report also concluded that her DNA matches DNA that was found on tissue paper that was saved from the scene, according to the report.
Trottier, who is from Arizona, is being held at the Stutsman County Correctional Center, the report states, citing jail records.
She appeared in court on Monday and a preliminary hearing and arraignment have been scheduled in Barnes County for May 21.