VALLEY CITY, ND — A 65-year-old Arizona woman has been charged with murder in the 1981 death of a newborn found on a North Dakota college campus after DNA evidence linked her to the decades-old case.
Nancy Jean Trottier of Sun Lakes, Arizona, faces a Class AA felony murder charge in connection with the death of an infant known as “Baby Rebecca.” The case remained cold for more than four decades until advances in DNA technology led investigators to reopen the investigation in 2019. Trottier attended Valley City State College from 1978 to 1982, and court records show she made her initial appearance in Barnes County court on Monday. Her preliminary hearing and arraignment are scheduled for May 21.
On April 16, 1981, a deceased newborn girl was discovered in a wooded area behind 265 Viking Drive on the Valley City State College campus. The infant had a plastic covering over her face and her umbilical cord was still attached. An autopsy conducted the following day determined the baby had been alive at birth and died from acute asphyxia, consistent with suffocation, according to court documents. Valley City police named the infant “Rebecca” when she was buried. For decades, investigators followed numerous leads but could not identify the baby or locate a suspect in the case.
The breakthrough came after Rebecca’s body was exhumed in July 2019 and DNA was extracted from her remains. The genetic material was sent to third-party laboratories for familial and genealogical analysis. By August 2020, investigators had received a genetic genealogy report pointing to possible relatives of Rebecca, which ultimately led them to Trottier. In an October 2021 interview, Trottier became emotional and told investigators, “maybe it was me” and “It could be, maybe it was me,” according to the affidavit. She consented to providing a DNA sample, while her husband’s DNA was collected separately through a search warrant in December 2021.
The North Dakota State Crime Lab returned conclusive results in June 2023. According to the affidavit, DNA analysis showed it is 3.481 quadrillion times more likely that Rebecca was the biological child of Trottier and her husband than an unrelated individual from the general population. Additionally, DNA consistent with Trottier’s profile was found on tissue paper recovered from the original crime scene in 1981. The forensic evidence provided the strongest link investigators had ever developed in the case, which had stumped law enforcement for more than 40 years.
The case has long haunted the Valley City community, where residents have wondered about the identity of Baby Rebecca for decades. Former Valley City Police Chief Dean Ross told reporters in 2020 he had held onto hope the case would eventually be solved. “Maybe there’s a conscience out there somewhere too. You know, that someone might say 40 years later that maybe I did something wrong back then and it’s been bothering me for 40 years,” Ross said at the time. Lance Peterson, a longtime Valley City resident who was a high school senior when the incident occurred, described feeling relief that the cold case is finally moving forward. “It’s been a long, trying ordeal. She’s here now, we’re at the cemetery. Yeah, it’s good closure for Valley City,” Peterson said.
Trottier faces the most serious felony classification in North Dakota with the Class AA murder charge. Barnes County State’s Attorney Tonya Duffy announced the charges during a press conference on April 13, describing the case against Trottier as strong. However, Trottier’s attorney, Luke Heck, disputed that characterization during her initial court appearance. Trottier is currently being held at the Stutsman County Correctional Center with bond set at $750,000. The preliminary hearing will take place before Judge Nicholas Thornton in Barnes County court at 1 p.m. on May 21.
The successful resolution of this decades-old case demonstrates how advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy have revolutionized cold case investigations. Baby Rebecca was reburied at Hillside Cemetery in 2020 following the DNA extraction, in a ceremony attended by local officials. During that reburial service, Valley City Police Commissioner Mike Bishop reflected on what might have been, asking, “If this little girl had been allowed to live, what would she have become?” The case represents one of the longest-running unsolved homicides in North Dakota history before the recent breakthrough.
Trottier remains in custody as the legal proceedings move forward, with prosecutors preparing to present their evidence at next month’s preliminary hearing. The case will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to proceed to trial in what has become one of the most significant cold case resolutions in the region.
