Dog brought home dead baby in 1985. Now mom is charged with murder, Maine cops say

On Dec. 7, 1985, a dog carried a dead baby to its owner’s home in Maine, according to police.

Now, the mom of the child, referred to as “Baby Jane Doe,” has been charged with murder after the case remained cold for 36 years, Maine state police said in a June 14 news release.

Lee Ann Daigle, 58, of Massachusetts, was arrested on June 13 after Maine state police tracked her in Lowell, roughly 420 miles south of where she is accused of abandoning her baby decades ago, according to the news release.

Advancements in DNA technology resulted in police identifying Daigle as a suspect following a years-long investigation involving active and retired detectives, authorities said.

After the dog had brought Baby Jane Doe’s body home in Frenchville, Maine, investigators followed the dog’s path nearly 700 feet away, according to police. They were led to a gravel pit.

Daigle is accused of giving birth to her baby and abandoning her at the pit in below zero temperatures, the release said.

She was scheduled to appear in court for her first appearance at 11:30 a.m. June 14, police said.

Frenchville is roughly 265 miles south of Augusta.

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Dog brought home dead baby in 1985. Now mom is charged with murder, Maine cops say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.