Aiexpress – A woman has been arrested in Washington state for murder in a cold case involving the death of her newborn infant at an Arizona airport nearly two decades ago, authorities reported this week.
The newborn’s body was discovered in the trash in a woman’s restroom at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix on October 10, 2005, wrapped in a plastic bag bearing the red Marriott hotel emblem. It was determined at the time that the child, who was around one day old when she died, was not delivered in the airport bathroom but rather abandoned there. According to investigators, a medical examiner later determined that the baby’s death was a homicide by smothering.
The public began to refer to the infant as “Baby Skylar.” Despite extensive media coverage, no suspects were identified, and homicide police said the investigation “went cold after all leads were exhausted.”
Modern forensic testing conducted on the baby’s body a few years ago played a crucial role in identifying a potential maternal match, ultimately leading law enforcement authorities to 51-year-old Annie Anderson. Anderson, who is now charged in the baby’s death, was visiting Phoenix in October 2005 to attend a “real estate boot camp,” according to Lt. James Hester of the Phoenix Police Department during a news conference on Tuesday.
During an interview with investigators in January 2022, Anderson confessed to being Baby Skylar’s mother, as stated by the Phoenix Police Department in a news release obtained by CBS News on Monday. In order to execute a search warrant for Anderson, investigators had traveled to Washington state after conducting forensic tests several months prior.
In November 2021, the FBI Phoenix Violent Crime Task Force collaborated with Phoenix Police cold case detectives to conduct tests. These tests aimed to review the available evidence in the case, including DNA samples collected from the airport bathroom, which were identified as belonging to the baby’s mother. By utilizing genetic genealogy, the investigators could identify DNA samples that could potentially lead them to her. Upon finding a potential match, they cross-referenced it with the evidence originally found at the crime scene, ultimately identifying Anderson as a suspect.
During Tuesday’s briefing, Special Agent Dan Horan, who oversees the FBI Phoenix Violent Crime Task Force, referred to genealogy testing as an “identity resolution technique.” This method utilizes a publicly accessible genealogy database to establish connections between family members and an unidentified profile. In the instance of Baby Skylar’s case, the genealogy tests successfully pinpointed an individual within the family tree who willingly provided their DNA sample for the purpose of advancing the investigation and ultimately identifying Anderson. Horan refrained from disclosing any specifics regarding the relative involved.
According to police reports, Anderson has been taken into custody in Washington state and is awaiting extradition back to Arizona. A grand jury in Maricopa County has issued an arrest warrant for her on a first-degree murder charge. Once she returns to Phoenix, she is expected to face multiple felony charges.
