Sep. 26—WINONA, Minn. — The attorney representing a woman charged in the death of a newborn baby found in 2011 is asking the court to suppress the state’s evidence against her.
Jennifer Baechle, 43, faces two counts of second-degree manslaughter in the death of an infant dubbed “Baby Angel” who was found lifeless in a bag floating in the Mississippi River in 2011. Baechle was arrested April 24, 2025 after DNA evidence allegedly identified her as the mother of the infant.
In a motion filed in Winona County District Court Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, Baechle’s attorney Kurt Knuesel writes that missing information from an early forensic report makes it difficult for defense to refute evidence against Baechle. The missing report violates her rights to due process, he argues.
Knuesel cites an autopsy on the infant conducted by Dr. Lindsey Thomas which concluded it wasn’t possible to tell whether the infant was born alive or was stillborn. The charges against Baechle cite a report by pathologist, Dr. R. Ross Reichard, concluding the infant sustained “injuries of the head while alive.”
The state has not provided to defense Thomas’ report, materials related to it nor Reichard’s research, Knuesel writes. Instead, prosecution has offered only a two-page report from Reichard, which Knuesel describes as an “opinion letter.” Knuesel notes a letter dated Sept. 15, 2025 from prosecution saying the state did not have any more materials to disclose to defense other than the two-page report.
Knuesel writes that if the state has lost or destroyed evidence from those reports, presenting the report without Thomas’ report and Reichard’s research materials violates the defendant’s due process rights. He argues the “linchpin” of the case against Baechle is the two-page document which “stands in stark contrast to Dr. Thomas’s opinion.”
Boaters found the infant in the river south of Winona in September 2011. The community raised funds for a headstone and funeral for the unidentified baby.
An omnibus hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 2, in Winona County District Court.