RED WING, Minn. – A woman accused of killing her two newborn babies, one 23 years ago and the other 19 years ago, confessed the tragic details in a series of police interviews. Here is Jennifer Lynn Matter’s story, as recited in the criminal complaints against her:
> November 1999: After chores around town Matter returned home in Red Wing, where she was living. She gave birth in the bathroom. The baby, a girl, was born blue and not breathing. Nor was the baby crying. Matter “freaked put,” as she put it. She knew that she should have sought help but that her mind “was not there.” She was scared. At the time she was drinking heavily. She wrapped the baby in a towel and tried to figure out what to do. She talked to nobody. The next night shed drove to Bay Point Park in Red Wing. She out the baby in water in the river next to the boathouses and walked away. This was the middle of the night. A few days later she heard that the baby had been found.
> December 2003: After telling police she didn’t remember a second baby, Matter recanted. She said, yes, she had gone go public beach in Frontenac on Lake Pepin. She was by herself, lying low because police had a warrant for her arrest. She wanted to be by herself. She wasn’t in labor when she drove 10 miles to Frontenac but realized that the baby was moving around inside her. At the beach shei i a blanket or towel? She doesn’t remember. Did she call 911? No, but she thought perhaps someone in a nearby house would find and rescuev the baby. During the pregnancy, she said, she never sought prenatal care and had intention to keep the baby. Nor did she consider adoption as an option. And that night she sought no help.
Matter. Arrested in rural Belvidere Township 10 miles south of Red Wing. Advanced DNA testing techniques led to infanticide charges in Goodhue County court.