The mother of a newborn girl found dead in a garbage can at a Phoenix airport in 2005 has been arrested after investigators dug back into the cold case using genetic genealogy, police announced Tuesday.
The infant, called “Baby Skylar," was found deceased, wrapped in newspapers and a white towel and stuffed in a plastic Marriot hotel bag, in a Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport women's restroom on Oct. 10, 2005.
For years, investigators searched for suspects in Baby Skylar's death.
Nineteen years later, police have identified a suspect — the baby's mother — Annie Anderson, 51, of Washington state.
Baby Skylar's death
The infant's death was ruled a homicide by suffocation, the local medical examiner ruled at the time, police said Tuesday.
“The evidence on scene indicated that the birth likely did not occur at the airport and the bathroom was where the baby was abandoned by the suspect or suspects,” Phoenix Police Lt. James Hester told reporters.
DNA evidence collected at the scene was identified as belonging to the mother of the infant.
It was put into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS, which is a database of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons cases. However, it yielded no match.
Investigators worked the case but exhausted all leads, and the case was passed on to the cold case homicide unit.
A fresh look at the case
The breakthrough in the case came thanks in part to the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force and advances in DNA technology and investigative genetic genealogy.
Using the DNA evidence from Baby Skylar's unidentified mother, officials created a DNA profile and a family tree of potential relatives.
“Through the genealogy, we identified someone in the family tree. That person consented to a sample and led the investigation further to Miss Anderson,” said Dan Horan, supervisory Special Agent for the FBI Phoenix field office.
Anderson "identified herself as the mother of the victim and provided an account of what occurred," Hester said.
It's not clear exactly when officers met with Anderson.
Police did not disclose Anderson's account of events, but said she admitted to the baby's death.
She was arrested in the homicide of Baby Skylar and is in Washington awaiting extradition to Phoenix.
It was not clear Tuesday afternoon if Anderson had obtained a lawyer.
Hester said Anderson had been at the airport for a real estate boot camp trip in Phoenix when the incident with Baby Skylar occurred.
Lester said Anderson is believed to be the sole suspect. He said police know who the father of the child is, but "based on the totality of the investigation we have no reason to suspect he has criminal culpability."
There is no set date for her extradition.