Baton Rouge Police cold case detectives arrested 28-year-old JoAnn King of 8266 Governor Drive in Baton Rouge this week, charging her with 1st degree murder of her newborn infant. King’s newborn baby girl’s body was found in a dumpster near the Exxon Refinery in December of 2002 by BFI Garbage truck drivers. Police say King was one of 6 suspects at the time of the incident but that the case eventually went cold.

DNA evidence collected from the infant is what eventually lead police back to King this week. It is not known how long police have had King’s DNA, but the infant’s was collected in 2002. The Louisiana State Police is the agency that made the match. When questioned by police, King confessed to giving birth to the infant then placing it in the dumpster. The EBR Coroner’s report stated that the infant died from a blow to the head.

A special thanks to the Baton Rouge Police cold case detectives who worked this case. It’s sad when an infant is discarded like an empty carton of milk and has no one to fight for her to see that justice is served. With the help of DNA technology and diligence on the part of the police, it looks like that’s all changing. Whats just as bad is that somewhere out there are numerous families who would have loved to take this baby off of its mothers hands and either give it a home or find one for it as opposed to throwing it out, yet this selfish murdering coward didn’t even take 2 minutes to think about seeking help. Hopefully the life sentence in prison she should receive will give her plenty of time to think about how easily this could have been a story with a happy ending instead of a horror story.