DNA evidence from a soda bottle has reportedly connected a woman from Massachusetts to the tragic 1985 death of her newborn son. This revelation came as authorities shared details from a long-standing investigation begun when the infant’s body was discovered in the woods by a father and son out rabbit hunting.
Dianne Curry Peck, now 59, appeared in court on Tuesday and entered a not guilty plea to a murder charge related to the case. The infant, referred to for decades as “Baby Boy Doe” from Mansfield, Massachusetts, has remained a mystery until now.
“Cases involving newborns are among the most heartrending,” commented FBI Boston Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks outside the courthouse. “This child, allegedly abandoned to perish in the woods without care or love, was denied the basic right to life. For 41 years, he was simply Baby Boy Doe, a child who entered the world full of potential but tragically denied the chance to live.”
FBI Boston Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks addresses the media outside the courthouse about the case against Dianne Curry Peck. (FBI Boston)
On January 26, 1985, a startling discovery was made by a father and son after they spotted footprints in the snow. Initially mistaking the found object for a doll, they were shocked to realize it was a naked newborn. This heart-wrenching find set off an investigation that was recently revitalized with new DNA evidence, as reported by WCVB. Read more here.
An autopsy determined the child was born alive before dying a short time later.
“It was naked, lying on its back; the umbilical cord was still attached to the baby,” Kenneth Martin, who at the time was working as a Massachusetts State Police trooper assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, told the outlet.
The Mansfield Police Department, along with former New England Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan, paid for the baby’s funeral, Boston 25 News reported.
The case went cold until Bristol County investigators reopened it in 2022, partnering with the FBI and state authorities.
The grave of the “Baby Boy Doe” of Mansfield, Mass., the infant son of Dianne Curry Peck, 59, who gave birth to the child in 1985, before allegedly abandoning him, authorities said. (FBI Boston)
Using forensic genetic genealogy, investigators analyzed the baby’s DNA, which eventually led them to Peck.
DNA recovered from a soda bottle taken from her trash ultimately linked her to the child, authorities said.
At the time of the birth, Peck was a 17-year-old student at Mansfield High School. She allegedly admitted to investigators that she had given birth to a child in the back seat of her ex-boyfriend’s car, Boston 25 reported.
She claimed she gave the baby to him because he said he knew someone who would adopt the infant. Peck told investigators she believed she had given birth to a girl and never spoke to her ex-boyfriend again. He died in 2020, according to the FBI.
Dianne Curry Peck, 59, appeared in Bristol County Superior Court on Tuesday in Fall River, Mass. (Google Maps)
Prosecutors also noted there is no evidence that anyone — including Peck’s ex-boyfriend — knew she was pregnant, according to the news outlet.
Peck allegedly told police she gave birth on Jan. 20, 1985, but prosecutors argued in court that the timeline is inconsistent with the condition of the baby’s body and the freezing temperatures at the time.
According to a medical examiner, the infant had likely been in the woods for only about 12 hours before being discovered.
News Media has reached out to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office and Peck’s attorney.