Elderly Woman Arrested for Suffocating Her Newborn Decades Ago, Police Allege
Arizona Woman Arrested for Killing, Disposing of Baby in 1981
Published
A 65-year-old woman from Arizona is finally facing justice decades after she allegedly suffocated her newborn baby to death and tossed her in the woods at a North Dakota college campus.
Nancy Jean Trottier was arrested April 7 for the alleged murder of the baby, named "Rebecca" by police, after a DNA breakthrough linked her to the child's corpse, local Fargo, ND outlet Valley News Live reports.
Trottier is accused of birthing the baby and then stuffing her inside a plastic bag -- with her umbilical cord still attached -- and dumping the bag in a wooded area behind Valley City State College in 1981. Trottier was reportedly a student there from 1978 to 1982.
Police were unable to solve the mystery, and the case went cold ... until the Valley City Police Department and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation reopened the case and used new DNA technology to investigate. They reportedly exhumed the baby's corpse and were able to extract DNA that eventually led them to Trottier.
In a 2021 police interview, Trottier allegedly got emotional and told investigators ... "It could be, maybe it was me."
She faces a Class AA felony murder charge and life in prison without parole if found guilty. She made her initial appearance in court on Monday, and a preliminary hearing and arraignment are scheduled for May 21.
