Theresa Bentaas trial for Baby Andrew postponed for 3rd time – Argus Leader

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Theresa Rose Bentaas walks to court Monday, March 11, at the Minnehaha Courthouse in Sioux Falls. Bentaas is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter after police say she left her newborn baby outside to die in 1981. Bentaas was arrested after DNA testing proved she was the infants mother.(Photo: Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader)

The trial for a South Dakota woman charged with the murder of her newborn 40years ago has been postponed again, according to the Minnehaha County clerk of courts.

Theresa Bentaas was scheduled for trial Mondayin Minnehaha County court in Sioux Falls.Randy Sample with the Minnehaha County States Attorney's officesaid that both sides were in agreement for a reset and that a new date has not yet been scheduled.

Bentaas, 59, is charged with first-and second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in connection to the former cold case of Baby "Andrew" John Doe.

This is the thirddelay in the trial since she was formally charged in March 2019. Bentaas' attorneys also filed a motion to delay the trial in November,citing the continuous rise is COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The firstdelay was in September2019,when parties said they were having trouble finding times when all the witnesses were available.

Heres what we know about the incident, investigation and arrest:

On Feb. 28, 1981, a newborn baby was found in a ditch,wrapped in a blanket alongside what is now Sycamore Avenue near 26th Street. The bundle was spotted by a driver who called to report it.

More: 'I consider him my long lost son:' Man who found Baby Andrew speaks out after arrest

By the time officers responded,it was too late and the baby was no longer alive.

An autopsy was conducted a few days later and the cause of death was determined to likely be exposure and failure to assist the baby in maintaining an airway, according to court documents.

After a few leads and attempts to contact the parents of the baby, the case went coldshortly after that.

The grave of Baby Andrew John Doe, an infant who was found dead in a ditch in 1981, is shown. Police arrested Theresa Rose Bentaas decades later on Friday, March 8, 2019 after determining through DNA that she was the mother.(Photo: Loren Townsley / Argus Leader)

In 2009, a detective with the Sioux Falls Police Department, Mike Webb, reopened the case of Baby Andrew John Doe in hopes of obtaining any DNA evidence for testing. Webb shortly discovered all testable evidence had been destroyed in 1995, the court documents noted.

Webb learned of a process where DNA could be extracted from the bones and tissues of the body. After doing some research, he found the North Texas University Science Center conducted those lab tests.

More: Cold case: Police hope DNA leads to parents of abandoned baby

Baby Andrew's body was exhumed in September2009 and sent down to Texas in hopes of finding any DNA matches that would help locate the parents. No matches were found, according to the court affidavit.

With no matches the case hit a stalemate again. But per policy, the DNAsamples were to be tested every year and weretested in Feb. 2018 and again no matches were found, documents said.

With the technology increase, police submitted the DNA to a Virginia-based company, Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. in 2019,that was able to find two possible genetic matches.

Using those genetic links, police were able to use a family tree that led to Theresa Rose (Josten) Bentaas and Dirk Bentaas in Sioux Falls.

After conducting a "trash pull" at Bentaas'home, Sioux Falls police found a cigarette butt,beer and water containers that were seized as evidence. FemaleDNA wasfound on the evidence that "could not be excluded as being from the biological mother of Baby Doe," according to a court affidavit.

More: Timeline: How police spent 38 years trying to solve Baby Andrew's murder

Detectives interviewed both Dirk and Theresa Bentaas and took buccal swabs from both.

In the interview, Bentaas said she was "young and stupid" and admitted to being pregnant in 1980-81,having the child alone in her apartment and driving the baby to the place he was later discovered.

Court documents said she saw the baby was discovered on the news and stated that "she was in denial that she was the one responsible for that." And she thinks about it when she drives by the area now.

On March 4, 2019, lab results from swabs came back and showed a strong evidence to support the relationship between both Theresa and Dirk Bentaas and Baby Andrew.

Theresa Rose Bentaas, 57, was arrested Friday morning after police determined through DNA that she was the mother of Baby Andrew. Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Theresa Bentaas was arrested and charged in the death of Baby Andrew on March 8, 2019.

In a press conference the day she was arrested,Sioux Falls Police Chief Matt Burns acknowledged the dedication of theinvestigators in thepursuit of justice.

"I couldn't be more pleased with the results today and the arrest and the closure that we find, as well as the hard work and dedication for the pursuit of justice for Andrew," Burns said.

In Feb. 2020, Bentaas' lawyers filed a motion to suppress the DNA evidence that police obtained from the trash pull at her residence that led to her arrest, stating that it violated her rights.

More: Bentaas case: Judge says DNA evidence from trash pull can be used in murder trial

"As a free member of the general public, law enforcement's extraction of Bentaas' DNA from the items pulled from the trash and the subsequent creation of her DNA profile for the testing of Baby Doe case constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment," Bentaas' attorneys wrote in the brief.

The judge in the case later ruled the DNA evidence could be used in the murder trial and did not violate her Fourth Amendment rights.

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Theresa Bentaas trial for Baby Andrew postponed for 3rd time - Argus Leader