EDITORIAL: Advances in DNA investigation may bring closure in case of 'Baby Angel'

Mar. 30—In September 2011, the body of a baby girl was found in a tote bag floating in the Mississippi River south of Winona. Also in the bag were four angel figurines, which led locals to call the child "Baby Angel."

Investigators concluded that the child likely was born no more than two days before its discovery, and the infant had several skull fractures (though no visible corresponding bruises). Her umbilical cord was still attached, which indicates that the unknown mother likely delivered her without a doctor's assistance.

The tragedy deeply affected Winona's law enforcement community, as well as the city as a whole. Multiple leads produced no answers in the weeks and months after her death, and on Easter weekend 2012, dozens of people attended a funeral for Baby Angel. She was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in Winona.

But the funeral didn't end the investigation. Today, there is new hope for closure in the case — thanks in large part to a woman named Barbara Rae-Venter.

There's an outside chance that you've heard the name before, but for most of us, it won't ring a bell. Rae-Venter is a 75-year-old native of New Zealand who came to the United States when she was 20, earned a doctorate in biology and became a medical professor and cancer researcher. She later graduated from law school and became a patent attorney, specializing in biotechnology.

Today, however, she's known as the amateur sleuth largely responsible for developing the process of genetic mapping to identify criminal suspects and unidentified bodies.

When you watch a crime drama on TV, DNA evidence seems fairly straightforward. An investigator finds a hair, or perhaps a drop of blood or some skin cells. Off it goes to the lab, and within a few hours, a DNA match points police toward the suspect.

Real life is far different. DNA testing can take weeks, and a "match" only happens if the individual's DNA already is in a database somewhere. Otherwise, it's just another dead end — or at least it used to be.

Nearly 10 years ago, Rae-Venter was doing genealogical research for a family member when she figured out that by utilizing publicly available genetic databases (largely built from people who submit samples to trace their own ancestry), she could identify the likely "family tree" from which an unknown DNA sample sprung. Then, using basic detective work and process of elimination, an identity often could be found.

It took a little time, but law enforcement agencies eventually recognized the value of Rae-Venter's system — called Investigative Genetic Genealogy — and in the past decade it has been used to identify hundreds of crime victims and criminals. Among them was Joseph James DeAngelo, the infamous "Golden State Killer" who committed at least 13 murders and 51 rapes in California from 1974 to 1986.

The system invented by Rae-Venter, using DNA from Baby Angel, has led investigators to a 42-year-old woman in the Winona area. After legal maneuvering that lasted more than a year, investigators finally obtained a court-ordered DNA sample from her on March 19. So, in just a few weeks, we might well know the identity of Baby Angel's mother.

That would bring some sense of closure, but justice might still prove elusive.

Even if Baby Angel's mother has been found, she won't necessarily face criminal charges. We don't know the circumstances of the child's birth or death, nor the nature of the mother's relationship with the child's father. This wouldn't be the first time a woman was forced to conceal a pregnancy, and even in the event that a crime is alleged, we can't yet assert that Baby Angel's mother was the sole perpetrator, or indeed that she was guilty of anything. She might have been a victim herself. Anything is possible, and she is innocent until proven guilty.

But while we wait and hope for answers to a lot of questions, it's not too soon to thank the investigators who didn't let this case go cold. Baby Angel didn't have a family that kept pushing for answers, but the Winona County Sheriff's Office nevertheless pressed on, and it appears that those efforts are about to pay off. Answers and closure are important, even if they don't result in an arrest, trial and conviction.

Sadly, a lot of families and communities across Minnesota are waiting for closure that might never come. Indeed, of the roughly 6,000 murders committed in Minnesota since 1980, nearly 2,000 remain unsolved. If the victim was a woman — especially an indigenous woman or a woman living in poverty — then the perpetrator is less likely to face justice.

So, while we are pleased that the Baby Angel mystery appears to be on the cusp of being solved, we hope that her case also serves as a reminder that every life has value. Grieving families need the help of persistent investigators, and crime victims deserve respect and the strongest possible effort to achieve justice — or at least closure.