Woman arrested in 25-year-old ‘Baby Jane Doe’ death

Published 3:09 pm Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested a New Iberia woman for the 25-year-old unsolved homicide of an infant in 1994.

Sonia S. Charles, 50, was arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Baby Jane Doe, who was found in a 55-gallon trash barrel behind a car wash in Jeanerette on Jan. 24, 1994. An autopsy showed the infant was alive when placed in the dumpster, but died of hypothermia later.

The case first came back to light after members of the Justice for Unsolved Murder Victims Project published a flyer online seeking information in the case. That led to interest from national media, including “Dateline NBC” and former prosecutor Nancy Grace, who did a segment on the case in August.

Evidence from the original crime scene had been stored in the Jeanerette Police Department’s custody for decades. Although an exhumation of the infant’s body had been considered, IPSO Det. Scott Hotard, who handles cold cases for the office, discovered that the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory still had placental material from the case preserved.

According to an IPSO press release, the laboratory reexamined evidence from the case and developed a DNA profile which matched with a family relative’s sample in a DNA database.

A DNA sample from Charles was taken and proved to be a match.  

Charles was booked into the Iberia Parish Jail. No bond has been set.