A devoted mother was jailed for a horrific crime cops believe began to unfold on the night of her 21st birthday back in 1985.
Lee Ann Daigle was arrested in 2022 after voluntarily providing detectives a DNA swab which linked her to the 1985 killing of a newborn girl in Frenchville, Maine.
Canny investigators had Daigle’s family in their sights thanks to advances in DNA technology.
They counted back nine months from the date of the discovery of the baby’s body in a gravel pit on December 7 1985, the Boston Globe magazine reported.
The cops speculated the baby’s mother may have been a young woman who got drunk or was taken advantage of at a family celebration in the conservative community.
They realized Lee Ann Daigle had celebrated her milestone 21st birthday around the time of the infant’s conception, with the stunning hunch later proven right.
Daigle’s story has now been told in incredible detail thanks to her two daughters, who hailed their mother’s devotion to them and who continue to support her.
Two sisters (center and right with their mom, left) have opened up about the life-changing moment their devoted mother was charged with murder over a cold case crime
Baby Jane Doe’s remains were found a Siberian husky who carried her body to its owners.
Police retraced the dog’s steps back, where they discovered frozen blood, footprints and fresh tire tracks leading away from it.
The baby was full term, six pounds and eight ounces. Detectives were unable to find the mother and the case went cold.
By 2022, DNA technology had made leaps and bounds, and a renewed interest in the case by two detectives led them to Daigle.
Jay Pelletier had seen how successful DNA testing had been in solving cold cases, like California’s infamous Golden State Killer, and knew the Maine crime lab had been holding on to a sample of Jane Doe’s blood.
Initially, there was little progress, but he kept checking back, knowing new samples are uploaded into the database regularly, he told the Globe.
He’d been relying on tried and tested ancestry sites, but also reached out to California-based Identifinders International, which discovered the initial breakthrough in the case: a DNA match for Jane Doe’s biological father.
Daigle was now 58, with two adult daughters of her own who she was very close to. Back in 1985, she was 21, and had just met the girls’ father, who is of no relation to Jane Doe.
The biological father was in his early 60s and living in a nursing home facility, suffering severe memory issues. He could not provide any assistance, and had no recollection of fathering a child in Maine in 1985.
Lee Ann Daigle (pictured) was arrested in 2022 after voluntarily providing detectives a DNA swab which linked her to the death of a newborn girl
Baby Jane Doe was found in a gravel pit in Frenchville, Maine , on December 7, 1985, by a Siberian husky who carried her body to its owners
Months after the initial breakthrough, a new detective joined the case. Lisa Lewis created an expanded geneaological tree and zeroed in on a couple she believed were likely Jane Doe’s grandparents. From there, they narrowed it down to three women who could be the mother.
Part of this investigation was considering what could have led to an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. One of their considerations was that a woman had sex in an alcohol-fueled celebration.
This led Lewis to Daigle, who turned 21 in March 1985 – the month Jane Doe was likely conceived.
She recalled tears welling in her eyes as she reached out to Pelletier to explain her theory. He, too, was stunned.
Jay Pelletier (pictured) had seen how successful DNA testing had been in solving cold cases, like California’s infamous Golden State Killer, and knew the Maine crime lab had been holding onto a sample of Jane Doe’s blood
‘There were a lot of emotions. We had the potential to turn someone’s world upside down. That part was difficult. I remember not feeling good,’ he said.
When detectives contacted Daigle asking for a DNA swab to help them investigate a cold case, she initially refused. Later, she called Pelletier back.
Pelletier told the publication that when she agreed to the swab, she said: ‘I just want to get this over with.’
Meanwhile, investigators had also contacted her two daughters, 32-year-old physician assistant Kristyn, and 35-year-old day care worker Lauryn.
Lauryn provided her own DNA sample when officers arrived at her work, and went about her day. She recalled them telling her that her saliva could implicate a distant relative.
‘I submitted to the DNA test too to rule us out,’ Daigle told her girls. Shortly later, they received word Daigle’s sample was a 100 per cent match, prompting her arrest.
In subsequent police interviews, the full picture emerged, and Daigle admitted delivering a baby – alone – in the gravel pit.
She said she’d not spoken about it for nearly 40 years. Her daughters wonder if the memory had been wiped entirely until detectives began prodding, as a trauma response.
Prosecutors still sought a hefty prison term, describing her at the time as an ‘educated, employed woman who made a deliberate choice… to leave the baby to die alone in a cold, dark winter night in northern Maine.’ Her defense countered that assessment, describing her as young, naive and ‘in a state of panic’
Lauryn and Kristyn both recalled occasionally finding their mother sitting alone, lost in thought during their youth. They never asked questions, but noted she’d often be crying.
Daigle accepted a plea deal in which she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Prosecutors still sought a hefty prison term, describing her at the time as an ‘educated, employed woman who made a deliberate choice… to leave the baby to die alone in a cold, dark winter night in northern Maine.’
Her defense countered that assessment, describing her as young, naive and ‘in a state of panic.’ They noted that safe haven laws were not yet in operation, despite now being in place across the United States.
Daigle was ultimately handed a 16 year sentence, with 10 years suspended, meaning she must serve six years in prison. Her earliest possible release date is in 2026.
Lauryn said her mother will always have a room in her home, and her doting daughters have stood by her, visiting the Maine prison often.
They insisted Daigle was a good mom, and wanted to defend her in spite of the decision she made in 1985, as a 21-year-old girl.
