A Massachusetts mother accused of abandoning her newborn daughter in a frigid gravel pit in 1985 pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter.
Lee Ann Daigle, who was then known as Lee Ann Guerrette, gave birth to the baby girl on Dec. 7 in a Frenchville, Maine quarry then left her for dead in subzero weather.
Daigle was arrested in June 2022, after police cracked the cold case thanks to advancements in DNA technology.
Not long after the infant was left for dead, a Siberian husky discovered the newborn and then carried the body about 700 feet to its home.
Authorities tracked the dog’s trail and uncovered the location where the baby was delivered and then abandoned.
After that, they ran out of leads.
Baby Jane Doe’s death remained a mystery for nearly 40 years.
Investigators finally caught a break in the case thanks to advancements in DNA technology that allowed them to identify Daigle as the child’s mother, police said.
She was initially charged with murder but entered her plea to manslaughter on Thursday in Maine Superior Court.
Daigle will be sentenced at a later date and faces up to 20 years in prison as well as up to $50,000 in fines, WGME reported.