Woman arrested nearly 20 years after baby found dead at airport

Emily Mae Czachor
·2 min read
2

A woman has been arrested in Washington state for murder in a cold case involving the death of her newborn baby at an Arizona airport almost 20 years ago, authorities announced this week.

The newborn's body was found in the trash in a woman's restroom at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix on Oct. 10, 2005, wrapped inside a hotel bag, according to police. The infant became known to the public as "Baby Skylar." Despite widespread media attention, no suspects were named and homicide detectives said the case "went cold after all leads were exhausted."

But modern forensic testing on the baby's body several years ago helped law enforcement to identify a potential maternal match, which led them to 51-year-old Annie Anderson, the suspect now charged in the baby's death.

Anderson admitted during an interview with investigators in January 2022 that she was Baby Skylar's mother, the Phoenix Police Department said in a news release issued Monday and obtained by CBS News. Investigators had traveled to Washington state around that time to execute a search warrant for Anderson after forensic tests were done several months earlier.

Agents with the FBI Phoenix Violent Crime Task Force worked with Phoenix Police cold case detectives to arrange those tests in November 2021. In addition to reviewing existing evidence in the case, investigators used genetic genealogy to help pinpoint DNA samples that could possibly belong to the deceased newborn's mother. Once a potential match was found, they were able to cross-reference it with evidence originally discovered at the crime scene to identify Anderson as a suspect.

A grand jury in Maricopa County ultimately issued an arrest warrant for Anderson, on a first-degree murder charge, and she is now in custody in Washington state, police said. Anderson is being held in Washington as she waits to be extradited back to Arizona. She is expected to face multiple felony charges when she returns to Phoenix, police said.

Police were planning to share additional updates on the investigation and Anderson's arrest at a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Phoenix.

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