GENETIC TRAIL

DNA From Maxi Pad Breaks Cold Case of Dead Baby

Baby Theresa was found abandoned in the Wisconsin woods 13 years ago.

Thirteen years after a wood-cutter found a dead baby in a garbage bag in the Wisconsin woods, police have charged her mother. Karin Luttinen, 45, was arrested after DNA from a maxi pad wrapper allowed investigators to build a family tree that led them to her. Madison.com reports that Luttinen told police that she gave birth in a tub filled with water, then blacked out, and found that baby dead when she came to. She said she panicked, put the baby in a towel and her purse and then drove around aimlessly before deciding to leave her in the woods. She is charged with concealing the death of the child, who was nicknamed Baby Theresa.