Investigators Determine Parents of Newborn Found in Ditch in 1980

(Learfield News/St. Cloud, MN) — Investigators in Stearns County say they’ve determined who were the parents of a newborn girl whose remains were found in a ditch south of Saint Cloud in April of 1980, but there’s not enough evidence to send the case to prosecutors for charges.

Sheriff’s Lieutenant Zach Sorenson tells the Star Tribune the child’s mother has died and the father is living in Minnesota and spoke with an investigator.

Sorenson indicates it’s still an open question whether the baby was alive when left by the side of the road near Saint Boniface Chapel in Saint Augusta.

He told the paper, “We haven’t been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is a criminal element to the child’s death.”

Her body was exhumed in 2018 to develop a DNA profile.