IOWA CITY, Iowa — More than three decades after a newborn was found dead in an Iowa City landfill, advanced DNA testing has led to an arrest.
The Iowa City Police Department announced Tuesday that 58-year-old Cindy Sue Elder, formerly Cindy Sue Eckrich, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of “Baby John Doe,” discovered in December 1992.
Investigators credited the work of Othram, a private forensic DNA laboratory, with breaking open the long-cold case. The lab was able to recover usable DNA from evidence despite it being chemically treated during the original autopsy, a process common in the early 1990s but largely avoided today…