Identity of dead baby in 1989 case discovered

Sherburne County investigators and the Sherburne County Attorney’s Office have officially closed the case of a dead baby found in a box on the roadside in Santiago Township in 1989.

The newborn baby girl was found dead on April 23, 1989, by a passerby who had noticed the box days earlier, according to the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office in a press release.

Now, 35 years later, the mother of the baby has been identified as Carey Ann Kruger, age 56.

According to an article by the Union-Eagle at the time of the incident, the baby was found wrapped in plastic and tucked inside of a cardboard box.

Sherburne County Sheriff at the time Dick Witschen said in the article that the passerby was walking through the woods with his wife and child near Sherburne County Road 85 and County State Aid Highway 11 when they discovered the baby.

Despite initial investigative efforts, authorities were unable to identify the baby or the baby’s parents and the case went unsolved for decades, the press release states.

In 2023, investigators reopened the case with new investigative techniques and assistance from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI, which ultimately led to a breakthrough and the identification of Kruger as the baby’s mother through a DNA match, the press release states.

According to the press release, Kruger admitted to concealing her pregnancy and the birth from her family. She said that the baby was dead at birth and, in a state of panic, she did not know how to handle the situation.

In the original autopsy, along with a re-examination in late 2023, it could not definitively be determined whether or not the baby was born alive. However, pathologists believed the baby was likely stillborn, the press release states.

According to the Union-Eagle article, the baby was near full-term at the time of birth, likely in the range of 34 to 37 weeks.

Sherburne County Attorney Kathleen Heaney reviewed the case file and, earlier this month, closed the case without filing charges against Kruger, according to the press release.

“While the disposal of the child’s body was not in accord with the law, the statute of limitations has run and thereby forecloses any charges,” Heaney wrote in a memo to close the case.

Following the autopsy, the baby’s body was released to the Sherburne County Coroner’s Office, which arranged the burial, the press release states. The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office has made extensive efforts to locate the records showing where the baby was buried, but those efforts have been unsuccessful.

The sheriff’s office asks that anyone with information about where the baby is buried should contact the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office at 763-765-3500.

Reach Chloe Smith at chloe.smith@apgecm.com