DNA has led to the identities of the parents of a newborn baby girl found dead in an Iowa barn nearly 30 years ago.
“Baby Jane Lincoln” — so named because the barn where her body was found was on US Highway 30, historically known as the Lincoln Highway — was found on November 10, 1996, by Clair Wilson, who lived in the Lisbon home adjacent to the barn with his son, daughter-in-law, and 15-year-old grandson, Luke.
And now, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says that Baby Jane’s father was also named Luke Wilson, and he is now 43 — meaning he would have been 15 or 16 at the time of the baby’s death. The mother was identified as Samantha Light Hope, also now 43.
But investigators did not say if the Luke Wilson who lived at the house in 1996 was the same Luke Dean Wilson as the baby’s father. They also didn’t say if they’d located the parents or spoken with them, only that “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.”
An autopsy on the baby’s body in 1996 determined that her cause of death was “probable exposure” but that the manner of death was “undetermined.” The medical examiner said the baby was probably alive for a short time after birth and could have been put in the barn as late as 6 a.m. that morning.
According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Clair Wilson found the infant’s body inside a white plastic shopping bag, which was inside an open black plastic garbage bag. The baby’s umbilical cord was still attached to the placenta.
Investigators said they would not be releasing further information “at this time.”
