Mother Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in 1985 Death of Newborn

A Massachusetts woman pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the death of her infant daughter, Baby Jane Doe, found in a gravel pit 37 years ago in northern Maine.

Lee Ann Daigle, 58, of Lowell, Massachusetts, was arrested last year after police cracked the case thanks to years of police work and advancements in DNA technology,

Her name was Lee Ann Guerrette when a newborn baby was dragged by a dog to a home in Frenchville and police were alerted to the grisly discovery on Dec. 7, 1985. Detectives tracked the dog’s path to a gravel pit where the baby had been born and abandoned in sub-zero temperatures.

The death remained a mystery for decades until Daigle’s indictment last year on a charge of murder. She’ll be sentenced at a later date in Superior Court.