A Colorado woman has been arrested in connection with the 1996 death of a newborn girl known as “Baby Faith,” authorities said.
Jennifer Katalinich, 42, of Erie, was arrested Tuesday on first- and second-degree murder charges more than 23 years after the unidentified newborn’s body was discovered at Horsetooth Reservoir in northern Colorado on Aug. 24, 1996, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.
The girl was wrapped in a brown towel and the bag was weighed down with rocks in shallow waters at the reservoir, with her umbilical cord still attached, the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports.
A coroner later determined the newborn – nicknamed by the press “Baby Faith” – died of asphyxiation, and a homicide investigation was launched.
“Investigators pursued all leads in the coming months, but eventually all leads were exhausted, and the case was declared cold,” sheriff officials said in a statement Monday.
The case was suspended in June 1998, but was reopened on the 10th anniversary of the girl’s death in August 2006 in hopes that advances in DNA technology or tips from the public might produce new leads. But investigators received no new information, according to the sheriff’s department.
DNA evidence in the case was then resubmitted to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in November 2016, ultimately leading authorities to Katalinich, who was 18 years old in 1996 and was living in a dorm at Colorado State University, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Investigators have declined to say whether Katalinich – also known as Jennifer Tjornehoj – was related to the newborn, who was buried at a cemetery in Fort Collins.
“Baby Faith, God loves you,” the girl’s gravestone reads.
A message seeking comment from Katalinch’s attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday. She was released from custody Tuesday after posting $25,000 bond and is scheduled to return to court in January.
“This case serves as a great reminder that LCSO is determined to solve all cases despite the amount of time that passes after the commission of the crime,” Sheriff Justin Smith said. “It often takes just one citizen to come forward with information to spark new life into a cold case.”
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