The Goodhue County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) announced an arrest of a Red Wing woman Monday in the 2003 death of a newborn baby boy discovered deceased in Lake Pepin in 2003.
The woman, 5- year old Jennifer Lynn Matter, of Belvidere Township, was recently identified through DNA as the child's mother.
Goodhue County deputies and BCA agents took Matter into custody at 6:38 a.m. Monday at her Belvidere Township home without incident.
She has been charged via complaint with Second Degree Murder – With Intent – Not Premeditated and Second Degree Murder – Without Intent. Matter is currently in the Goodhue County Jail. Matter is scheduled to appear in Goodhue County District Court on Tuesday.
The baby boy was discovered deceased on December 7, 2003, in Lake Pepin at the Methodist Campus Beach in Frontenac. A second child, a newborn baby girl found deceased on November 4, 1999, in the Lower Boat Harbor of the Mississippi River near Red Wing, was also determined through DNA to be Matter's child.
A recent effort to learn about the babies' parentage through genetic genealogy resulted in a lead that ultimately led investigators to Matter. Investigators obtained a court order to obtain a DNA sample from Matter and BCA forensic scientists confirmed the match to both children using Rapid DNA technology.
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