Surveillance video shows Christine Warren in 1997 at gas station where her newborn was later found dead.Photo: Seattle Police Department
The invitation mailed last November to Christine Warren invited her to participate in a survey for a beverage company.
On March 1 authorities questioned Warren, who police allege admitted to being the newborn’s mother and identified herself as the woman seen on surveillance footage at the gas station on Nov. 18, 1997, before an attendant emptying trash later made the discovery.
Online records for the King County jail, from which Warren was released Monday after posting $10,000 bail, do not indicate if she has an attorney to represent her. She is scheduled to be arraigned March 29.
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According to the court documents, Warren told investigators the newborn’s father had reacted negatively to the unplanned pregnancy, and she did not tell anyone else about it or pursue any medical care while pregnant.
On the night the boy was born, Warren, then 27, was riding in a car when she began to experience cramping, and asked a friend to pull over at a Lake City Chevron station and convenience store, where she gave birth. She was seen on surveillance images entering the store at 11:20 p.m. with an article of clothing wrapped around her waist, and leaving 14 minutes later.
But the search for the mother went nowhere.
In 2018 police began to reconsider the case using DNA from the mother recovered at the scene, and sent those samples to a private lab. The results of DNA genotyping were then uploaded toGEDmatch, a public genealogy website, which allowed an expert to identify individuals with potential biological links to the mother, according to the documents.
Warren’s name was added to that list last March. Police who then discovered that Warren lived in the Seattle area also were able to match Warren’s physical characteristics with the woman seen in the earlier gas station surveillance video.
That’s when they mailed Warren the bogus letter, offering a gift card in exchange for her participation in a flavored-water beverage survey, surreptitiously collecting Warren’s DNA. Her sample then matched with DNA taken from the 1997 crime scene.
When questioned, according to the court documents, Warren said she thought the newborn was dead but that she never checked his vital signs before placing the child in the trash can and covering him with garbage.
Charging documents say she faces a sentence of 10 to 18 years in prison if convicted.
source: people.com
