By Grace Jacobson / News Director

SANTIAGO TWP., Minn. — The 1989 Sherburne County case against a woman who left her newborn baby in a box by the road is officially closed without charges.

The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office and County Attorney’s Office closed the “Baby in the Box” case after 35 years on Thursday, Aug. 15.

The baby girl was found dead in the box by a passerby on April 23, 1989, in Santiago Twp.

The case went unsolved for decades until investigators found the baby’s mother through a breakthrough DNA match in 2023.

During interviews with 56-year-old Carey Ann Kruger, investigators say Kruger admitted to concealing her pregnancy and the birth from her family. She told investigators the baby was stillborn and in a state of panic, she didn’t know what to do so she put the baby in a box and left it.

Autopsies could not definitively determine if the baby was born alive; however, investigators say two pathologists believed the infant was likely stillborn.

Sherburne County Attorney Kathleen Heaney closed the case. In her memo she wrote, “While the disposal of the child’s body was not in accord with law, the statute of limitations has run and thereby forecloses any charges.”

The Sherburne County Coroner’s Office arranged a burial for the baby but it’s unknown where.

Anyone with information about where she’s buried should contact the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office at (763) 765-3500.