VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – On April 15th of 1981, Valley City police responded to a call of a deceased newborn female baby left in the underbrush near the VCSU campus. Investigators revealed the newborn child died from asphyxia after a live birth.

In July of 2019, the Barnes County State’s Attorney issued an order to exhume the body of Baby Rebecca and then sent the body to a lab in Texas for DNA testing.

Valley City Police Chief Phil Hatcher talked about how a case in South Dakota was solved through DNA information.

He said that process led to a lead for Valley City investigators.

One lab gave investigators direction on parental lineage.

Baby Rebecca was returned to her grave in a small ceremony back in August of 2020. If she had lived, she would have been 40 on Thursday, April 15th of 2021.

The full interview is available below.