Woman sentenced in 1998 infant death appeals

A Garrison woman has been accused of leaving her newborn child to die nearly eight years ago on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Dana Deegan, 34, was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court with first degree murder. It is alleged that Deegan "with malice aforethought, did unlawfully kill an infant child, willfully, deliberately, maliciously, and with premeditation," according to a complaint filed Thursday.

An infant boy, believed to be younger than 2 weeks old at the time of his death, was found dead inside a soft-sided lavender bag on Nov. 4, 1999. A rancher repairing fences in the area located the suitcase in a brush-filled coulee about seven miles north of Mandaree and found the baby's body, wrapped in a blanket and towel and placed in a plastic bag, inside the suitcase.

U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said the baby has been referred to as "Baby Doe" or "Baby Moses" since it was found in 1999.

Deegan made her first appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Miller Thursday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Bismarck, several hours after she was arrested at her workplace in New Town.

Deegan, dressed in a light green T-shirt, blue shorts and thong sandals, told Miller she lives in Garrison with her mother and her three children. She said she attended two years of college and works for a child program through the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.

Miller said the maximum penalty for first degree murder is life in prison, fines of up to $250,000 and a mandatory assessment fee of $100. Parole is not a possibility in the federal system.

Miller appointed Bill Schmidt, a defense attorney from the Federal Public Defender's Office, to represent Deegan.

Wrigley said at a news conference following the first appearance that scientific advancements since the infant was found in 1999 had allowed investigators to continue working on the case.

According to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Hal Stutsman, an FBI laboratory DNA analysis identified the "Deegan family" as a maternal match for the baby. Wrigley declined to release how the family was identified as a match in the case. Deegan voluntarily submitted a DNAsample to the FBI in March 2004.

The FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Va., completed a DNA analysis on the sample in February 2007, "which confirmed that Dana Deegan is a DNA match and the mother of Baby Doe,"the affidavit said.

Wrigley said the length it took to get results in the case is "atypical." Results usually come back faster, but many state and federal crime logs are overloaded with samples, he said.

"We're not satisfied with how long it took to get those results," Wrigley said. "I'm an impatient person by nature."

According to the affidavit, Deegan told FBI agents on Feb. 21 that she went into labor in the shower, and "Baby Doe" was stillborn. She said she then realized she was pregnant with another child and went to Bismarck to deliver that baby.

Agents interviewed Deegan again on Wednesday, the affidavit said. After giving a similar statement to investigators as the one she had given in February, Deegan changed her story, the affidavit said.

She told investigators she had delivered the baby at her home in Mandaree in October 1998, and her three other children were present. The baby was born alive, the affidavit said.

Deegan told agents she "cleaned Baby Doe, put a diaper on him, fed him, dressed him in a 'onesie' and socks, wrapped him in a towel and a blanket, and placed him in a basket,"the affidavit said. "Deegan then got the rest of her children ready and left the house, intentionally leaving Baby Doe alone without food or water, and without a caregiver."

Deegan said she returned about two weeks later and found the baby dead, the affidavit said. The charges allege that Deegan knew Baby Doe would die when she left him alone.

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