Woman Arrested, Charged in Infant Corpse Mystery

DNA identifies mom of 3 infant corpes, deputies say

By STACY MORROW

Updated 8:30 PM CST, Thu, Nov 12, 2009

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A 36-year-old woman was arrested after DNA evidence linked her to three infants whose corpses were found in southeastern Tarrant County, Sheriff Dee Anderson said.

Rachel Lynette New was charged with tampering with physical evidence and was being held on a $50,000 bond, Anderson said Thursday during a press conference. He said investigators are thinking about filing two additional charges against New.

Two of the bodies were found in August 2009 under a mobile home that is about 30 to 40 feet from a field where a human fetus was found in a suitcase in March 2008, investigators said. The mobile-home's owner found the most recent bodies, a boy and a girl, after two tenants moved out.

The first corpse, an infant boy, was found by the mobile-home owner's father.

Rachel New

"As the remains were sent off for DNA testing, they began looking at potential people, and they requested DNA swabs from a number of people," Anderson said.

He said New and her brother had recently lived in the mobile home, which is about 20 miles south of Fort Worth and between Mansfield and Burleson in an unincorporated part of Tarrant County.

"They lived there for about three and a half years, according to the homeowner," Anderson said. "We know that she carried -- was pregnant with -- three different infants that all ended up, their remains, within about 40 yards of each other."

New and her brother denied knowing anything about the remains. When investigators showed her the DNA test results, she refused to comment further, instead requesting a lawyer, Anderson said.

Her brother has not been arrested, and it's unclear if he's also considered a suspect.

There was no word on who the infants' father is, and Anderson said it is not known whether the remains were the result of miscarriages or late-term abortions or were born alive and then killed.

"The crime scene, as I said, was difficult," he said. "It was gruesome to work because of the decomposition of the remains."

Anderson said how it all happened, the time frame and exactly what actually happened and why is still a mystery.