NEW IBERIA, La. — A Jeanerette woman arrested in connection with a 25-year-old unsolved homicide of a baby in Iberia Parish has been indicted.
The 16th Judicial District Court indicted Sonia M Charles in the January 24, 1994 homicide of Baby Jane Doe. She is facing a charge of Second-Degree murder.
Charles was arrested in 2019. At the time, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office told KATC that the baby, who was hours old was left inside a trash can and died of hypothermia.
In 2019, The Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office told KATC that a detective Hotard reopened the 1994 Jeanerette homicide after new leads were developed. The Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory (ACL) reexamined evidence from the 25-year-old case and developed a DNA profile which matched with a family relation to a CODIS ( Combined DNA Index System ) entry.
Det. Hotard was able to research the relationship of the CODIS profile and obtained a DNA sample from Sonia Charles. According to the department, the ACL was able to match Sonia Charles through DNA as the mother of Baby Jane Doe.
Charles was then arrested.
According to IPSO, Charles was booked into the Iberia Parish Correctional Center on Friday, April 30, on a charge of second degree murder.
Her bond was set at $125,000. She has since bonded out of jail.
*A previous version of the article stated the baby was just days old. The Iberia Parish Coroner's office says that files from 1994 indicate the child was hours old.
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