National Digest: DNA helps in N.Y. cold case from 1991

NEW YORK

DNA leads to identity of dead childs mom

In a dramatic break in a cold case more than two decades old, investigators used DNA to identify the mother of a dead child known only as Baby Hope, police said Tuesday.

The New York Police Department received a tip from someone after a publicity push during the summer, police officials said. The tip led to the woman, whose name is being withheld amid a homicide investigation.

The case dates to July 23, 1991, when a road worker smelled something rotting and discovered the girls remains inside a picnic cooler along the Henry Hudson Parkway.

The body of the girl, believed to be 3 to 5 years old, was unclothed and malnourished and showed signs of possible sexual abuse.

Her body was exhumed in 2007 for DNA testing, but none could be extracted because of its poor condition. After a second attempt was made in 2011 using better technology on bone material, a DNA profile was developed, police said.

Associated Press

NEW MEXICO

Navajo Nation to stop

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National Digest: DNA helps in N.Y. cold case from 1991