IA BABY JANE LINCOLN: F, infant, found inside old Cedar County horse barn near Lisbon, IA - 10 November 1996 *IDENTIFIED*

BABY JANE LINCOLN: F, Infant, found inside an old Cedar County horse barn - 10 November 1996 ZqxMwO3


On Sunday morning, November 10, 1996, the body of a newborn infant was found inside a garbage bag placed in an old horse barn one mile east of Lisbon, Iowa, in Cedar County.

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https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/baby-jane-lincoln/

Baby Jane Lincoln

BABY JANE LINCOLN: F, Infant, found inside an old Cedar County horse barn - 10 November 1996 Y2DZKMC


BABY JANE LINCOLN: F, Infant, found inside an old Cedar County horse barn - 10 November 1996 7rainPF


Homicide
Baby Jane (Doe) Lincoln
Case # 96-11840
Lisbon, Iowa (Linn County)
Body Found 1 mile North in Cedar County (Investigating Agency)
November 10, 1996

Case summary compiled by Jody Ewing

On Sunday morning, November 10, 1996, the body of a newborn infant was found inside a garbage bag placed in an old horse barn one mile east of Lisbon, Iowa, in Cedar County. Clair Wilson — a retired Quaker Oats employee — discovered the bag on the floor near a horse stall while moving lumber into the 40-by-75-foot barn around 10 a.m. Sunday.
 
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/baby-jane-lincoln/

The white barn faced the farmhouse where Wilson lived with his son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Debbie Wilson, and their 15-year-old son, Luke.

Wilson, not believing what he found, brought the bag to the house’s patio. The infant’s body lay inside a smaller white plastic shopping bag — its handles tied — that had then been placed in a black plastic open garbage sack. The red printed letters on the white bag’s exterior said “Thanks for Shopping here,” with the “T” and “S” in uppercase letters.

No movement or sound came from the bag, which Wilson estimated weighed about 8 or 9 pounds.

The Wilsons did not touch the baby or take her out of the bag, but said it was obvious the infant was dead.
 
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/baby-jane-lincoln/

BABY JANE LINCOLN: F, Infant, found inside an old Cedar County horse barn - 10 November 1996 6ztS7JP


Tim Wilson

“Christ … I knew this wasn’t garbage.”

Despite freezing temperatures, the body wasn’t frozen, which led the Wilsons to believe the baby had been in the barn only a short time.

State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett said the baby girl was alive at birth and lived a few minutes, but likely died of exposure. No other cause of death could be determined.

Using body temperature, detectives estimated the baby could have been placed in the barn as late as 6 a.m. the morning Wilson found her. The family kept machinery inside the barn, along with a number of cats.
 
BABY JANE LINCOLN: F, Infant, found inside an old Cedar County horse barn - 10 November 1996 IiZDHBy


A spray of artificial flowers lies in the snow near the entrance to the barn where Baby Jane Lincoln was found Nov. 10 on the Clair and Tim Wilson farm along Highway 30 about one mile east of Lisbon.
 
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/baby-jane-lincoln/

Someone Familiar with Highway 30

The night before, Luke Wilson had been the last to go to bed shortly after midnight.

Flowers near entrance to Lisbon barn Courtesy photo L.W. Ward
A spray of artificial flowers lies in the snow near the entrance to the barn where Baby Jane Lincoln was found Nov. 10 on the Clair and Tim Wilson farm along Highway 30 about one mile east of Lisbon.
Tim Wilson said the family’s black Labrador began barking a few hours later.

“He was barking his head off between 2:30 and 3, but we came to the conclusion that was probably our paper being delivered,” Tim Wilson told the Gazette.

Cedar County Sheriff Keith Whitlatch dubbed the girl “Baby Jane Lincoln” after the Lincoln Highway, the historic name for US Highway 30 near the barn where she was found.

Whitlatch said many stores used the “Thanks for Shopping here” bag, but believed the girl’s parents were from Cedar County or a nearby area. “Someone familiar with Highway 30,” he said.

The sheriff asked people to think about those they knew who’d been pregnant and then suddenly weren’t pregnant around November 10. Hospitals across the state also were asked to report on any unexplained admissions.
 
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/baby-jane-lincoln/

Second Baby Found in Three Months

Just three months earlier, Whitlatch had investigated a similar case where a newborn girl was discovered in a toilet at the Brea Z Lake Campground southeast of Tipton. The baby’s mother — just 12 years old — was not charged. That infant, too, had been alive at birth but died of exposure.

Baby Jane Doe Lincoln's gravesiteCedar Rapids Gazette photo by Buzz Orr
Flowers cover the grave site of Baby Jane Lincoln at the New Horizon Cemetery near Tipton.
“Here’s another baby that’s never going to cry,” Whitlatch told the Gazette about the Lisbon infant.

Whitlatch also organized a funeral service for the baby girl.

The Fry Funeral Home in Tipton handled the arrangements for the November 14 service. Owners David and Janet Fry donated a portion of the costs, and the Rev. Frank Heubner of Cedar Street Baptist Church volunteered to conduct the rites.

That Thursday, about two dozen people gathered at the New Horizon Cemetery in a rarely used, county owned burial plot north of Tipton.
 

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/baby-jane-lincoln/

Information Needed

When the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) established a Cold Case Unit in 2009, Baby Jane Doe Lincoln’s murder was one of approximately 150 cases listed on the Cold Case Unit’s new website as those the DCI hoped to solve using latest advancements in DNA technology.

Although federal grant funding for the DCI Cold Case Unit was exhausted in December 2011, the DCI continues to assign agents to investigate cold cases as new leads develop or as technological advances allow for additional forensic testing of original evidence.

The DCI remains committed to resolving Iowa’s cold cases and will continue to work diligently with local law enforcement partners to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice for the victims and their families.

If you have any information you think might help solve this crime, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or contact the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office at (563) 886-2121.

Sources:
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, former Cold Case Unit, November 24, 2009
Cedar County Sheriff’s Office
Baby Jane Doe Lincoln — Find a Grave Memorial
“Top 10 stories of 1996: Gazette readers and staffers differ on E. Iowa’s big events,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, December 29, 1996
“Major cases for tiny staff: Murders of 2 infants, search for Marion couple top busy year for Cedar County sheriff,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, December 29, 1996
“Baby remembered: Still few clues in case of dead newborn found near Lisbon,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, December 28, 1996
“Goodbye, Baby Jane: Newborn found in Cedar County barn laid to rest in rural Tipton cemetery,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, November 15, 1996
“Donations are sought to help baby’s burial, tombstone expenses,” Mount Vernon/Lisbon Sun, November 14, 1996
“Baby given name; death still mystery – Residents plan funeral for Baby Jane Lincoln,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, November 12, 1996
“Body of newborn baby found in barn,” The (Spencer) Daily Reporter, November 12, 1996
“Dead baby found near Lisbon: Family shaken by discovery of body in barn,” by Cindy Hadish, Cedar Rapids Gazette, November 11, 1996
 
www.kcci.com

Iowa cold case: DNA used to identify parents of newborn girl found dead in a bag in 1996

Iowa authorities say recent advances in DNA testing helped identify the parents of an infant girl who was found dead in a bag left in a Cedar County barn nearly 30 years ago.
www.kcci.com www.kcci.com

Updated: 10:36 PM CST Jan 27, 2024

LISBON, Iowa —
Iowa authorities have released new details in a nearly 30-year-old cold case from eastern Iowa.

They say recent advances in DNA testing have helped identify the parents of an infant girl who was found dead in a bag left in a Cedar County barn near Lisbon.

The discovery was made in November 1996, and the unidentified infant was ultimately named “Baby Jane Lincoln,” as Highway 30 was previously known as the Old Lincoln Highway, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

According to media reports in 1996, the baby was thought to be alive at birth. An autopsy determined her cause of death to be “probable exposure” and the manner of death to be “undetermined.”

Baby Jane was buried in a small rural cemetery days later near Tipton.

The Department of Public Safety tells us it has identified the parents of the infant as Luke Dean Wilson and Samantha Light Hope, both now 43, both of whom have been contacted by authorities and their DNA collected as part of the investigation.

The circumstances surrounding the infant's death are still being investigated.

The news release went on to say:

The circumstances surrounding the death of Baby Jane remain under investigation and the public is encouraged to contact the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office should they possess any information that may assist in the investigation.

Additionally, the public is encouraged to contact the Iowa DCI Missing Person Information Clearinghouse at 515-725-6036 if they have any information related to any missing person or unidentified human remains investigation.
 
Summer_Breeze said:
The Department of Public Safety tells us it has identified the parents of the infant as Luke Dean Wilson and Samantha Light Hope, both now 43, both of whom have been contacted by authorities and their DNA collected as part of the investigation.
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27 years ago. They were teenagers. No older than 16. Not an excuse, but a sad situation all around.
 
SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:
27 years ago. They were teenagers. No older than 16. Not an excuse, but a sad situation all around.
Click to expand...
They were teens and likely scared to death but they've had decades to grow up, come forward and say that and likely had more children. Both of them kept their silence and this huge secret. What did she tell people when suddenly she was no longer pregnant?

I guess we can't also automatically assume the father was involved or even knew. She had to be of course, she carried and bore the baby. If she lived with family they at least had to know she was pregnant. We can't even know these two were together or she informed him.

If however he knew she was pregnant and they had had sex in the right time frame, he definitely knew the child could be his and had to wonder where it went or what happened.

I guess what I'm saying is there is more to be answered here yet.
 
This case has always intrigued me, as I live pretty close to Lisbon, and actually dated someone there. He was a mystery writer; I'm surprised he never mentioned this. So glad to see it's been solved.
 
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