Maricela Frausto’s case began in September 2004, but she was only identified as the culprit in 2023. Almost two decades ago, one Saturday evening, a Texas rancher noticed three buzzards circling on the road near his property. Upon a deep inspection, he discovered the body of an infant lying dead and naked.
When cops were called to the scene, they found out that the infant was a newborn girl who still had her umbilical cord attached, according to the New York Times. Wayne Springer, who was an investigator with the Medina County Sheriff’s Department, became obsessed with the case. However, fate was not quite in his favor, as the case remained a mystery for almost 20 years.
Then, one day in 2023, his former colleagues at the Sheriff’s Department informed him that the mother of the abandoned baby had been identified as Maricela Frausto, now 45. It was grand news for Springer, who even went to such lengths as staking out the cemetery on the baby’s death anniversary, hoping someone would visit his grave.
Notably, it was not an isolated case. Investigators across the United States have been scratching their heads over unsolved cases of abandoned babies, termed “baby does”. Thanks to a new development in DNA technology, the mothers are now being tracked down, just like Frausto.
The woman who once left her infant near a ranch is now a mother of two. She owned a family restaurant in Hondo, Texas, before being arrested and charged with murder. She was identified by a forensic genealogy, where investigators can create family trees and use them to match the DNA found at the crime scenes by extracting data from thousands of volunteer donors.
🧬 Today is National DNA Day!
DNA is not just science—it is hope. For families of missing loved ones, DNA can be the key that unlocks long-awaited answers.
Whether through investigative genetic genealogy or forensic testing, DNA has the power to reunite families, identify the… pic.twitter.com/ilP1Oo8y9v
— Light The Way (@LightTheWay22) April 25, 2025
This new development began emerging in 2019, where public DNA databases were opened up to novice genealogists to trace their family trees as a source to solve these cases. As per Irish Star’s report, apart from Maricela, nearly 40 women have been identified as the mums of these abandoned ‘Baby Does.’
Christi Guerrini, a professor of medical ethics at the Baylor College of Medicine, noted, “In the past, these cases were unlikely to be solved, and now it’s very likely that they will be solved, and that’s because of investigative genetic genealogy.”
However, as decades have passed since then, the reopening of these cases has created massive chaos. According to a report by the New York Times, two of the identified women have taken their own lives, while several others now have more children.
