Global Courant
A Massachusetts woman who abandoned her newborn daughter to die in a gravel pit in northern Maine on a cold winter’s day in 1985 has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Lee Ann Daigle, of Lowell, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after DNA evidence helped police solve the decades-old crime. The baby’s body was discovered after a dog found it in the gravel pit and brought it to a family’s front yard in Frenchville.
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Daigle issued a tearful apology in court on Tuesday, saying she panicked instead of seeking help.
Lee Ann Daigle, 58, has been sentenced to six years in prison for leaving her newborn daughter to die in rural Maine 38 years ago. (Maine State Police)
“I could have done more. I should have done more,” she told the judge.
Her name was Lee Ann Guerrette when police were notified of the gruesome discovery on December 7, 1985. Detectives followed the dog’s trail to the gravel pit where the baby was born and left in sub-zero temperatures.
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Baby Jane Doe’s death went unsolved for years until a DNA match made a breakthrough in the case, leading to Daigle’s indictment last year. In the intervening years, Daigle had raised two daughters, both of whom testified at her sentencing.
Global Courant
She was originally charged with depraved indifference to murder, but she pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The judge sentenced her to 16 years in prison, but suspended most of the sentence.
