DNA helps solve “Baby Michael” cold case

(WRAL/NBC News) A North Carolina woman has been charged with murder in the death of a newborn found dead alongside a Cumberland County road nearly 21 years ago.

Deborah Riddle O’Conner, 54, was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond in the Cumberland County jail.

On March 3, 1999, a soldier found the body of a newborn boy in a plastic bag on Canady Pond Road. The soldier initially thought he had found a baby doll, but he then realized his gruesome discovery was actually a dead infant.

Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office investigators determined the child died of blunt force trauma, but they weren’t able to identify him, find his parents or determine who killed him.

Investigators named the child “Baby Michael.”

The umbilical cord was still attached to “Baby Michael,” and his mother’s placenta was in the bag with him. Investigators recently sent DNA from the evidence to Bode Technology, a Virginia firm that specializes in forensic genealogy services. Bode was able to develop a family line for “Baby Michael,” and investigators eventually whittled down the pool of suspects.

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