Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / UPDATE: SUSPECTED KILLER FOUND! Newborn baby girl, umbilical cord still attached, dies alone in metal trash drum sucking her thumb for comfort. WHO LEFT HER TO DIE?

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UPDATE: SUSPECTED KILLER FOUND! Newborn baby girl, umbilical cord still attached, dies alone in metal trash drum sucking her thumb for comfort. WHO LEFT HER TO DIE? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the authorities arrested fifty year
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: old Sonya Charles of New Iberia in the death of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: her baby twenty five years ago. The murder happened on
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: January twenty fourth, nineteen ninety four Injinarette, when the newborn
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: girl was found dead in a trash bin at a
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: car wash. Detectives reopened the case after new leads developed
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: from the re examined evidence. Detectives found a DNA profile
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that matched with a family relation. A DNA sample was
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: taken from Charles and a match was made that identified
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Charles as the mother of the baby. Sonia. Charles was
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: booked into the Iberia Paris Jail for first degree murder.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: No bond has been set. Wow, this is unheard off.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: First of all, this tiny baby girl left to die
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and a cold metal drum outside a gas station, the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: temperatures dipping through the night. The little baby was found dead,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: sucking her thumb for comfort. She was in a plot
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Jane Doe, an unidentified little coffin until in the last days,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: literally a miracle. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us, with me and all
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Star panel. Let off by Major Wendell Rayburn, Cataline, THEEO
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Comprehensive Victim Interventions Specialist at Louisiana sixteenth Judicial District Attorney's Office,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Appoint genetic genealogist, the gene hunter, doctor Ryan Fuller,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and boy do we need a shrink? Doctor? Michelle Dupree,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: renowned medical examiner out of South Carolina, author of homicide
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Investigation field Guide, and renowned defense lawyer. Former prosecutor out
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl Cohen with me right now,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: investigative reporter with KA d N News fifteen. Leah McNeil,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Leah hold On, Leah two, Major Wendell Rayburn out of
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office. Major Rayburn, I don't know
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: if congratulations are in order at a moment like this
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: after so many years of a quote cold case identifying
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a tiny baby's body. I remember as a prosecutor, when
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I would get a conviction on a hard fought murder case,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: people come up and congratulate me, and I wouldn't feel
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: like congratulations were in order at all because everybody was
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: leaving that courtroom with a broken heart. But in this case,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Major Rayburn there are congratulations in order. How is your
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: office feeling now that this tiny body has been identified?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Everybody satisfied, Nancy, I mean they are. They've reached a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: conclusion on the case. And as you know that that's
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: always gratifying. You know, we congratulated our detective for completing
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the case. The work's not over yet. He's still got
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: stare at work to do. He's got to get it
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: prepared for prosecution. But you know, you know, he got
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the paddle on the back he deserves, and you know,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: we're very encouraged by by what happened and the process
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: that happened, you know, with the science coming into place,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: you know, a twenty five year old cold case now solve.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Let's just start at the beginning. Back to our investigative
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: reporter joining us from kad In News fifteen, Leah McNeill.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Leah described to me how this little baby was found
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: sucking it's thumb. Well, it's truly hardwachy if you just
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: look at the facts of the case. He was found
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: in a trash can, just thrown on the side of
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the road near carwash in Generat, Louisiana, and were found,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: like you said earlier, sucking her thumb for comfort. She
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: at her reports stage at her local cord was still attached,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: so she had was just thrown in their way after
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: birth and just without any with no one. She was
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: there alone by herself in a trenchan and died alone.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: M Oh, my goodness, it's just so hard for me
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to take in, doctor Ryan Fuller, clinical and forensic psychologists
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: joining us. Doctor Fuller, I don't. I just can't get
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: it when I see a cat or a dog. I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: nearly missed a flight the other day. I was heading
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: up to Winnipeg, the lovely Winnipeg, to work on a
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Hallmark Christmas movie, and I was very beside myself. I
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: had to leave my family at church okay the twins
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: very likely misbehaving in the balcony, very likely in order
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to catch his flight, and snuck backed by the house
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: to see my mom to make sure she was okay.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Before I left. She was snoozing away. And on the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: way to the airport, I see a dog running up
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and down the street. I'm like, oh, dear Lord, you
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: are testing me this morning, because I know I've got
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to get out and keep that dog from getting run over. Luckily,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I just happened to see a guy step out of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: his door, a grown man who is a leader in
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the Twigs Scout troop. And I yelled out the car winder,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you have got to help me, mister Mann. I didn't
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: even know the guy's name. I said, I'm going to
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: miss my flight for work, and can you please take
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: this dog? So we don't And the guy did take
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the dog, and I made it to the airport. And
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I'm just My point is, in a very roundabout way,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: doctor Fuller, this little baby was found completely naked, put
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: down in a cold, fifty five gallon metal drum, and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: as Leah pointed out, correctly behind Bob's car wash in Jennerette.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: And it had to be in the dark of the night.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: How do you couldn't even leave a dog? How could
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: somebody leave a little baby, doctor Fuller? Just leave it
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: in a trash? Can't a drum? Yeah? I don't think
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: many of us can can ever make sense of anyone
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: doing anything like that to another living human being. And
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I think when we imagine the kind of empathy and
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: feelings and thinking that we imagine a mother to have,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: you know, this is something that it's difficult to believe.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, as you said, you had empathying a passion
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: for a dog, and I think it just goes to show,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: you know, in a situation like this, we don't know
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: what was going on for her cognitively or emotionally, but
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: clearly you know, she's not thinking about what the repercussions
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: are for this other living human being, in this case,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: her own child, and for you, a mother. You know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I don't even think there's any way for you to
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: make any sense of it from an emotional standpoint, a
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: psychological standpoint, or a cognive standpoint. Just it seems to beyond,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: beyond imagination. It's just it's just making me cry even
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: thinking about it, thinking about what that child went through.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: To Cataline, thee O Comprehensive Victim Intervention specialists there at
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Louisiana sixteenth Judicial District Attorney's Office, that's a mouthful Cataline
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: just thinking about the baby there through the night, you
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: know how many times. And I'm certainly not the world's
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: best mother because I take the twins up on Krispy
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Kreme donuts last night. We had a donut party right
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: before they went to bed, and do all sorts of
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: things like keep them up late and make them play
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: until I'm ready to go to bed. Cataline, just the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: thought of this little baby being left in that drum,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the way she was to die, and she was covered
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: up by newspaper so nobody would see her. Nobody was
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: there to hear her little cry. She probably couldn't cry
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: any louder than a kitten just born. And I remember, Katalene,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: when the twins, Oh, here I go, here it comes,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, You've got to stop me, okay. I remember
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: when the twins were born, had to hold a little
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: head up to bathe them and take care of them.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: And this little baby was left like that. Cataline, it's
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: so sad. And as the doctor said, we don't know
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: what was going on, but I can tell you by
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: losing my only child. I don't know how this mother
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: could have done that. I really don't till today, I'm
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: feel trying to fathom what was going on in her mind.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: But that poor little angel did not deserve that at all.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Cataline with me, guys, very special guest today, Katalene theory O,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Major Wendell Rayburn, Cheryl La Point, all of us joined together,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Lia McNeil Ka d N about this day, and it's
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: a sad day because we're thinking about what this baby
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: went through. Yet it is a victorious day. And we
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: don't get very many of those in our line of business,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: do we. Daryl Cohen, former prosecutor now defense attorney. There's
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: not many days that we have a tear of happiness
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: in our lines of business. We don't. I am not
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: only sad, I'm mad, and I'm so mad that this
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: woman would do what she did callously, regardless of whatever
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: her mental motives were. This is a wonderful day to
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: cap a sad, unbelievably sad. Beginning crime Stories with Nancy Grace,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: we are talking about this tiny baby girl left to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: die and a hold metal drum outside of gas station.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: To Sharyl a point, joining me genetic genealogist, the Jane Hunter.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Charyl the point, how did it happen? How has the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: body been identified? Well, Nancy, the body was actually identified
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: through a familial DNA match. In twenty seventeen, Louisiana actually
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: started allowing familial DNA searches in the code of system,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: which basically means if you don't have an exact match
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: to a criminal in the system, you can run to
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: DNA for a family match, such as a parent, a sibling,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: or a child. And in this case, the lab a
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Kadiana Crime Labs, actually had a good DNA sample from
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the baby that was taken at autopsy, and when the
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: case was brought to their attention, we realize that or
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: they realized that a body very possible would not have
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to be exhumed, and they ran this DNA sample and actually,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: it's my understanding, they came up with a sibling match
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: to the baby. You know, it was never in my
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: mind that this happened twenty five years ago, and there
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: was a possibility that this child would have a sibling
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: out there that possibly had committed a climb. So once
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that was run through the CODAS system, they came up
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: with the match, and through that they were able to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: identify who the mother was. Let me ask you something,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Major Wendell Raber and joining me from Iberia Parish Sheriff's office. Major,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: let me understand something. The case is twenty five years old.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: How did and at the time, you guys did everything
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you could. Now I understand that baby was found dead
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: of hypothermia. Hold on, Major, let me throw this to
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: doctor Michelle Dupree, South Carolina medical examiner, author of Homicide
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Investigation Field Guide, Doctor Dupre, I appreciate you being with us,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and certainly you know you heard Daryl code and I
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: crying about how we don't have many happy days in
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: our business. Bill, we don't have the lect to stand
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: on compared to you. How many thousands of autopsies have
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: you done, doctor Dupre? Three thousand? Good Lord in heaven.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I'm very old. You are not very old, And you
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: know what's interesting. I guess I'm gonna have to ask
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: doctor Fuller about this when we're off air, doctor Dupres.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: After all you've seen, and all you've had, all thousands
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: of autopsies, and you too, Daryl calling thousands of violent
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: crimes when I guessed with you, guys, you're often the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: cheeriest people on the You just keep your nose in
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the wind and your eye on the horizon. To steal
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: a phrase from Will Rogers, doctor Dupre, it's a joy
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: having you with us. Explain to me how to simply
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: being outdoors. The baby wasn't strangled, stabs, shot, smother asphyxiated anyway,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: How do you just die from being Outdoorsmancy, It's just
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the elements and again not getting the medical attention, not
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: getting the nutrition that the baby would need, they will dehydrate.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: They will eventually. Bodies can only live for approximately three
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: days even less if you're an infant, three days without water,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: they just can't do it. This little baby, dubbed Baby
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Jane Doby investigators, was found on a cold January twenty four,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four, and the fifty five gallon drum hidden
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: back behind Bob's car wash in Jinnerette. Major Wendell Rayburn
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: tell me as circumstances around her discovery, Now, wasn't she
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: found not only sucking her thumb, biblical cord still attached
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: and the plus centa was attached to the cord. What
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: else was in that metal drum? Well, we were able
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to recover five different pieces of evidence. There was, of course,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: in newspapers covering the child with blood, you know, on
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the blood samples on there. There was a woman's girdle
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: that we're you know, we're thinking that she was trying
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to conceal the pregnancy and she disposed of this along
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: with baby. There was some other receipts and documents in there.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: We're not sure if they're related to this case. They
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: may have just been placing there before. But luckily the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: account the crime lab had preserved the DNA from the presentive,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the mother's DNA and the infant's DNA for twenty five years.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: And you know, we're very fortunate we have a good
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: crime lab, you know here in New Iberian in the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Kadiana region, that helped us out tell me something. Twenty
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: five years past major rayburn. And at the time, you
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: guys did everything you could. You even went to the
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: lingerie shop where you believe the girl was sold because
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: of a very very small town. And I was stunned.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Nobody noticed someone was and it suddenly wasn't you worked
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the case, your office worked the case. What took so
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: long to realize or to think of taking the DNA
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and putting it in a database because there was no
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: exclamation it ended up not being necessary. How did you
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: come up with the idea? Well, actually, the DNA that
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the child of the baby gene dos DNA has been
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: at the lab all this time. It's just a matter
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: of getting a familiar matched against it. The case detective
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: took all the evidence and he asked the crime lab.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I know it's been a long time, but ken Y'll
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: rerun this. Since different criminals are having to input their
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: DNA into the CODA system and see if we can
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: get a hit, we had had to lead that there
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: may have been a relationship in another state that was
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: in codas, so they went that direction first, and the
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: crime lab pointed that, hey, we have one better for you,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that's even a closer match. And they told us that
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: if you can find family tree of this person, you're
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: going to find this baby's mother, And that's what our
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: detective did. We actually had a search warrant to obtain
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the DNA from the suspective mother, but she cooperated and
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: gave it up. And when all the whistles and bells
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: went off and got one hundred percent match, you know
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: it was it was a very simple job after that
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: to get a warrant and make the arrest. You know,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: just hearing you describe that, how does that work? Does
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: share all appoint genetic genealogist with a gene hunter? How
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: does that work? Well? Nancy? The way that the way
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: that it works is you actually DNA is shared fifty
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: fifty with a parent. A child will have basically fifty
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: percent of the mother's DNA and fifty percent of the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: father's DNA. So each relationship from there varies, and it
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: is DNA does not lie. And so when you have
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: a match, say in this case it was a sibling match,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and that again is shared in Cinemargan's and a sibling
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: match will be within a certain range, and we know
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: when we see those numbers that it does not lie.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: It tells you that there is a relationship there, and
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: we can find you build family trees, and you find family,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and you look for the right person at the right time.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: And fortunately to have a sibling match is just amazing
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: actually in this case, because lots of times when we
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: do this kind of work, especially when I've searched for adoptees,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: we may just have a second or third cousin match,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and it's much more detailed to do that. But in
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: this case, it was wonderful that the lab was able
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: to come up with this match. And again, had a
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: family member not been in trouble with the law, this
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have happened. It would not have been this easy.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: You know, not says I'm saying it's easy, but it
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: would it definitely would not have been this easy to
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: actually find a family January dead in a fifty five
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: gallon stories with NT harwash there in Generatte, Louisiana. Twenty
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: five years later answers, if you go to crime online
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: dot com, there is posted the most poignant picture and
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: it is of this little baby with a doll with
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: a little blanket around her head in her casket. That
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: was the most love this child ever received. Leah McNeill
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: with me Ka d ND's fifteen Leah, who is the mother?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: And I wonder what the siblings are thinking today now
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: that they find out they had a little sister. Leah
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: tell me the mother was of course arrested by Dari
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: par of Sheriff's office. Fifty year old Sonya Charles was arrested.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: But the just getting back to the city of Jennarett.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: This was, like you mentioned earlier, a very very small town.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: So this was a dark chapter in the small town
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: of Jennerette for twenty five years. So when Sonya Charles
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: he was arrested. When I went to the town to
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: day that that the sheriff It's announced her arrest, there
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: was not one person that I talked to who did
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: not know of this case and did not know that
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: um Sonya Charles was arrested and was for lack of
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: about a word, happy that this dark chapter was finally
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: able to be closed or justice can finally start, you know,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: taking place so they can get him in arraining and
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: get her, you know, convicted of this because, like I said,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: almost everyone I talked to knew of this case. Their children,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: knew of this case, their grandkids. But it was just
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: everyone knew about this this baby and you know, on
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: her grief, Ony Reid's only god and her mother knew
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: her name. And for a lot of the locals I
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: talked to, they say they just wanted they just want
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: to give her a name. And that's still a big,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: big part of this story that they just want to,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you know, give her a name and not just baby
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Jeane Dope. Then General at Alderman Bob Fontineaux owned that
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: car wash and he is the one that found the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: baby early early morning hours, probably still dark outside January
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: twenty four, nineteen ninety four, when he was taking out trash. Now,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the Iberia Parish Coroner and James Falterman said the baby
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: was alive when she was thrown away. The plus centa
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and umbilical cord still attached to our specialist, doctor Michelle
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: dupre South Carolina medical examiner and author, Doctor Duprie, how
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: would the Iberia Parish Corner Falterman have known she was
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: alive when she was put in that metal drum? But Nancy,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: when a baby is born, obviously, one of the first
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: things they do is take a breath. And so when
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: we perform an autopsy, we actually look at the long
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: tissue to see if it is air filled. If the alvoli,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: which are the little sacks in the law, then the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: baby did take a breath. Otherwise, if they are not,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: then we know that the baby was still from Wow. Okay,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I want to go to you. Daryl Cohen now defends
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: attorney former prosecutor Inner City Atlanta. What will the mother
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Sonya Charles be facing. She's going to be facing murder.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: And I'm not as familiar with Louisiana law as I
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: could be, but she is facing murder, and I suspect
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the rest of her life in prison unless unless there's
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: enough testimony from other people who have come out and
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: said she's a good person. But I gotta tell you, Nancy,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: she's not a good person. She wasn't a good person,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: and I think that she deserves every bit of penalty
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: that she can possibly give. My goodness, oh my goodness
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: to live McNeil kad n he's fifteen. What about the sibling?
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Has anyone tracked down the sibling and their response, if any,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: to finding out they have had a sister. I haven't
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: been able to contact any siblings, but I did um
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: run by a woman at a grocery store in Jennerette,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and she claims to have known m Misnia Charles. And
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: she said that she lived, you know, in Jannarette for
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: a while, that they went to the same church. She
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: said that she never expected her to have done something
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: like this. So that's that's the closest person that I
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: found in Jinnerette, that or if that is, claiming to
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: know Sonia Charles. So many leads were re examined, all
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the evidence in this case reviewed, and then amazingly, a
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: familial match in the combined DNA index system that's CODIS,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: and that led to Sonya Charles and the identification through
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: a sibling. This was practically unimaginable just one year ago
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: this case, as Leah McNeill told us hung over the community.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Major Wendell Rayburn, what has been the response amongst the
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's office when they found out this case have been solved. Well,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of people, a lot of our guys were stunned, actually,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: because they believed this was a typical cold case, unsolvable.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: You know, twenty five years old. Most of the people
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: that had worked on the chief investigator, the chief police
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: from Janerette has passed away. You know, it was collecting
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: dust and for it come out in the light that
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: you know, science helped solve this and bring it to
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: a closure, hopefully to a closure. You know, guys were surprised.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: And we actually have a couple of employees that remember
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: sawing it, Charles and had worked with her in Jenette
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: before they became the employees of ours, and they were stunned.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Major Aber. Where did she work? What do we know
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: about her? She was working at currently, she was employed
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: by the school system. I'm not sure her exact position
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: previously when she was in Jinerette. I believe she was
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: worked at the food of Loom mill for a while.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: There's not a lot of industry in Janerette, and well,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't know much about her background from there. Wow,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: she's only fifty years old now and this is twenty
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: five year old coal case, so we know to Daryl Cohen,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: you know what, hold on, let me go this to
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: doctor Ryan Fuller because we need to shrink doctor Ryan Fuller,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: clinical and forensic psychologist Todder four. She was twenty five
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: years old, if my math is correct, at the time
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: she had the baby. She was holding down a full
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: time job and has held down others since then, has
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: had other children. So in my mind, clearly she was
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: not out of her mind or insane or had some
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: sort of delusion at the time that she left the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: baby to die. So what do you make of that? Yeah, again,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I mean without about doing a full psychiatric assessment on
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: any particular individual, you know, we would just be speculating.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: But certainly, twenty five years old, you know, your brain
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: has developed quite a bit. I mean, there's some evidence
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: that some of the frontal cortex and things like that
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: may not develop until around that time. But this is
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: not you know, obviously not the same as a teenager
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: or something like that. And as you're saying, if you're
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: laying out that she was able to hold down full
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: time employment, and she had other children later. You know,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the development of course, does appear as though she she
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: might have been confident in very you know, a number
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: of different ways, and so it makes it even more
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: difficult to understand what possibly could have been happening in
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: terms of her thinking and judgment and emotion at the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: time to make that kind of a decision. And you know,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: obviously what complicated even more is, you know, the finding
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: of a of a girl which sounds like the you know,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the inference being drawn is that she was trying to
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: conceal it for some reason. And so it's really just
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: you know, you can't make sense of it, which is
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: why you're probably asking me the question. And just you know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: we can't really make sense of imagining an adult who's
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: competent enough to do all these other things and ends
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: up having children later apparently wanting to have a family
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: making a choice like that, And it's just I think
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: it's gets us to struggle trying to understand how human
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: beings end up in situations where they make choices like that.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: And the horrible tragedy here is this infant, you know,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: lost her life, so obviously just a horrible hearted tragedy.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Kathleen thereo with me and she is a victim intervention
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: specialist there in Louisiana. Kathleen, I want to find out
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: where you were when you found out the case have
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: been solved, Sitting in my when I got the text
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: message saying that the case was solved, because that will
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: be our case. So we will be representing the Little
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Angel crime stories with Nancy Grace. You know, looking at
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: a photo right now. It's a nineteen ninety four file
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: photo baby Jane Doe buried in the Iberia Parish after
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: being found dead in a trash can, and it's a
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: black and white photo, and there is a whole trail
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: of people following along. There's two police on either side
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: of her little white casket with flowers on top, and
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: it looks like maybe a detective carrying it, and all
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: of these people following along behind. None of them knew
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the baby, none of them knew the mother, but they
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: were all so attached to this baby and what the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: baby had been through. The little girl had no family
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: to mourn her death, and the Sheriff's department and the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: people of Janerette took this child's death to heart and
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: they all came and walked a great distance, carrying her
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: a little coffin to its burial place. Leah mc neill,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: I'm just Leah mc neill joining me with kad in
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: News fifteen. Leah, I'm very curious about Sonya Charles and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: the rest of her children and how you just go
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: back into your regular life, how you walk away from
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: that metal drum and just step away from a car,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: washing into your regular life like nothing ever happened. I mean,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: what do we know about Earliah Men at this time?
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: All we know that, you know, through the DNA evidence
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: that she is the mother, and like other reports have said,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: you know that she does have other kids, you know,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: at this time, because we were not able to track
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: those children down, but I mean we would, I'm sure
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: we would all hope that maybe they came later on,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: and they hopefully they didn't come, you know, before this child,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: because I can't, you know, I can't even sad them
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: how you could just go on with your daily life
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: after just doing something like this. I just this whole case.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I'm not dumb looking into this case because it's just
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: there's still so many unanswered questions, so many things that
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: you know, we all we just want to know how, like,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: how this happened? Why do you happened? Somebody had to
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: have seen, somebody had to have known that she's pregnant.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it was the great girdle she
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: had on, but most people I know that are pregnant.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: It's not it's not easy to hide a pregnancy like that,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: and to think every day she went about her business.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Kathleene wondering, am I going to be caught with this
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: hanging over her head? I guess it bothered her. Kathleen
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Terria Therio. I would. I would hope it did bother her.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I really do, because no mother should do that to
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: their own child. Major Wendell Rayburn with me with the
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office. Major Rayburn, did she give any
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: statement whatsoever? Do we know anything more about the mother's
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: background or her family? Well, certainly I can't get into
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the specifics of the statement she gave other than one word,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: it's denial, and that's about all we got from her
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: said specifics. I can't I can't get into that her family,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: her current family. Basically, what we've seen and been told
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: is disbelief and they pretty much attacked us, and you know,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: we just framing her for this. The keyboard bullies of
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: social media have come out, but you know, we'll stick
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: by the evidence. The evidence is really solid and we're
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: one hundred percent confident that we had the mother of
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: baby Jane Doe and it's time for her to be accountable.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: I've never heard that phrase keyboard bullies. I'm completely stealing it. Okay,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna act like it's my idea, Major Wyndell Rayburn.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: So right now, the whole from what you've learned, the family,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: her family is in disbelief and saying it's a frame up.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: You know what, if somebody came in and arrested my
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: mother and said she had done this, I would fight
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: them like a wild animal. I would not believe it.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I would fight them tooth and claw. I would deny it,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: deny it, deny it because it would be so hard
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: for me to believe it and accept it. So, you
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: know what, Major Rayburn, I don't really fault her other
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: children or her family for thinking my mother would never
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: You know what, people be very surprised at what their
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: mothers would and have done in the past, But you
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: know how much you love your mother typically and look
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: up to your mother, and that's who loves you the most.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: And it's such a dichotomy for me to imagine Major
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Rayburn that she's a loving mother to the other children
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: and left this baby to die. And when I think
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: about it, did you? I'm sure you do know? Major Rayburn.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Over two hundred Iberia Parish locals gathered to lay her
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to rest. They even donated a christening gown and a
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: bonnet for the little baby to be buried in. As
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: one residence stated to the Daily Advertise, are way back
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: in ninety four, this baby was born into this world unwanted,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: but today she has a family. And the police really
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: took this case to heart and took it very personally.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Is that true? Major Rape Absolutely, the chief until his
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: death was determined that he wanted to solve this case.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately he did not live long. And see a close
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: our cold case detective was the original detective that was
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: assigned to help generate police department. I mean he has
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: reached a point that he's so satisfied now that you know,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: he feels that, you know, it's time for him to
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: move on to another case. But we're not finished. For
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: this case. We still have further to go, you know,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: the justice. Justice has to be finished, and it's up
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: to the courts, up to the DA's office from here
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: on out, and we'll provide whatever we can to make
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: sure that a conviction has made. You know, the police
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Chief Carrie Davis, at the time, he was the acting,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: he was just acting and he really got blindsided when
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: this fell in his lap. The acting police Chief, Carrie Davis,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: this just breaks my heart. Had officers with Generrette PD
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Service paul bearers to take the little three foot casket
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: to its resting place, and inside the casket, a raggedy
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: ann doll was laid by baby Jane Doe because Chief
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Carrie Davis did not want the baby to be buried alone.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Lea McNeil, reporter kad In News fifteen. What happens now, Well,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: we are going to continue to follow this story all
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the way through. Myself and the rest of my fellow
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: coworkers are completely attached his skis just as everyone else is.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Um she will mess up. Son, Charles will have to
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: you know, go to court getting the raiment and hopefully,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: you know, be convicted, and we will continue to follow
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: this all the way through. Guys, thank you so much
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: for being with me. Sharon Major Rayburn, Kathleen Leah who
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: have worked on this case so hard and for so long,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Doctor Ryan Fuller, doctor Michelle Dupree, and Darryl Cohen. We
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: wait as justice sun falls. Nancy Grace Crime Stories, signing
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: off goodbye friend,