Jennifer Matter Sentenced To Jail For Leaving New Born Son At Mississippi River

Jennifer Matter, a woman from Minnesota, has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for leaving her newborn son by the Mississippi River 20 years ago.

Jennifer Matter from Belvidere Township near Red Wing was sentenced for second-degree murder on Friday.

In January, she pleaded guilty to abandoning the baby on the riverbanks in 2003. According to authorities, the woman was not taken into custody until May 10, 2022, following the discovery of DNA evidence connecting her to the child.

According to prosecutors, Matter has been linked to the death of a baby girl in Mississippi in 1999 through DNA evidence. However, she has not been charged in relation to that incident. Jennifer Matter’s age is 50 years old.

According to the criminal complaint, Matter expressed her hope that the infant boy would be found alive after she abandoned him. According to Matter’s plea, she delivered a baby on Methodist Beach close to the Mississippi River in 2003 and intentionally abandoned the child with no intention of retrieving him.

According to prosecutors, Matter has been linked to a baby girl found in Mississippi four years ago through DNA evidence. However, no charges have been filed in relation to this incident.

In May 2022, the mother of the child was discovered and arrested after a genealogy search that led to prospective relatives in Goodhue County.

The arrest was made after DNA from the two infants was linked to the mother. Court records indicate that at the time the children were abandoned, Matter was a recently divorced mother of two who had a history of heavy drinking and frequent incarcerations.

Jeanne Madtson, who acted as an adoptive mother for the two abandoned newborns and another found around the same time, was deeply disturbed by their deaths, as were many members of the Red Wing community.

According to reports, Madtson named the unidentified children, secured burial plots, raised money for their gravestones, and made regular visits to their graves over a period of years.