Jennifer Matter pleads guilty in death of baby boy found near Lake Pepin in 2003
RED WING, Minn. -- A Red Wing woman accused in the death of a baby found on the shores of Lake Pepin almost 20 years ago pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder.
Jennifer Matter was charged in the case of her deceased baby boy discovered at the Methodist Campus Beach in Frontenac in December 2003. According to the complaint, Matter said she left the baby on the beach before driving away, and said she did not have a plan about leaving the baby in a safe place, but "hoped that someone in the nearby houses would find the baby."
Matter was taken into custody on May 9, 2022. Law enforcement officials credited the hard work of investigators and scientific advances in solving the decades-old case.
She could face up to 27 years and two months in prison, pursuant to 2003 Minnesota sentencing guidelines. Matter may argue for a downward departure from the presumptive sentence, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 28.
