Details emerge in Baby Angel case

(KWNO)-Dave Brand was haunted by the newborn baby found on the Mississippi River more than 13 years ago.

“I seen that baby and I never could get her out my mind, what she looked like. She looked like she was just sleeping when they brought her off the river,” said Brand, who was the Winona County Sheriff when the baby girl was found in a bag by boaters on September 5, 2011 about seven miles south of the City of Winona. She came to be known as Baby Angel because of several angel figurines in the bag.

Former Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand

On Thursday the Winona County Sheriff’s Office, Winona County Attorney’s Office and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced manslaughter charges against 43-year-old Jennifer Baechle. According to the criminal complaint WCSO partnered with Firebird Forensics Group, which used DNA samples from the infant to identify relatives. In March 2023 Firebird identified Baechle as a possible match. After Baechle refused to provide a DNA sample investigators searched her trash and found a discarded female hygiene product that was tested. The results revealed the infant “could be the biological child of (Baechle).” On March 19, 2024 deputies served a search warrant on Baechle and collected her DNA. The subsequent BCA report showed “very strong evidence” that Baechle and Baby Angel had a “biological mother daughter relationship.”

Baechle’s family members told investigators they were not in contact with Baechle in 2011 and said she was living in van in the Winona area at that time. Family members also said Baechle collected angel ornaments and recognized a blue pendant found with the baby. The medical examiner noted Baby Angel had skull fractures and bleeding on the brain, injuries sustained “while alive.” There was no evidence of medical care during or immediately after the baby was born.