Sioux Falls police make an arrest in 1981 baby death

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A South Dakota woman has been charged in the death of a baby found in a ditch 38 years ago after police said they used DNA and genealogy sites to determine she was the mother.

Police in Sioux Falls said 57-year-old Theresa Rose Bentaas was arrested Friday in the death of the child who’d been dubbed Baby Andrew. The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader reports she is charged with murder and manslaughter.

Police say the baby was alive when he was left in a cornfield ditch near Sioux Falls in 1981. He died of exposure.

Retired Detective Mike Webb says authorities used DNA from the baby exhumed 10 years ago and DNA obtained from Bentaas through a search warrant.

It was not immediately clear if she has hired an attorney.

AP-WF-03-08-19 1808GMT