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U.S. NEWS Saturday 9 March 2019

Woman charged in 1981 death

of newborn found in ditch

has two living adult children
with him, the Argus Leader
reported.
Court records don’t list an
attorney for Bentaas who
could comment on the alle-
gations. Retired Detective
Mike Webb said authorities
used DNA from the baby
exhumed 10 years ago
and DNA obtained from
Bentaas through a search
This Feb. 11, 2017, file aerial photo released by the California warrant. Webb said the fa-
Department of Water Resources shows the damaged spillway
with eroded hillside in Oroville, Calif. ther won’t be charged be-
Associated Press cause he wasn’t involved.
U.S. disaster agency “I couldn’t be more
pleased with the results
rejects $306M for today and the arrest and
the closure that we find, as
California dam repair well as the hard work and
dedication for the pursuit of
justice for Andrew,” Chief
By KATHLEEN RONAYNE ter was ultimately averted, Matt Burns said.
Associated Press but the dam needed sig- Public genealogy databas-
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) nificant repair. es have been used in other
— The federal government The agency rejected $306 recent cases, including the
has rejected $306 million in million in repairs for the capture last April of the sus-
reimbursements for Califor- dam’s upper gated spill- pected Golden State Killer
nia’s repair of damaged way because it was dam- in northern California and
spillways on the nation’s aged prior to the heavy the arrest of a businessman
tallest dam, a state agen- rain, FEMA spokeswoman This March 8, 2019 bilking photo released by Minnehaha County, accused of fatally stabbing
cy said Friday. Brandi Richard said. South Dakota, Jail shows 57-year-old Theresa Rose Bentaas. a Minneapolis woman in
California has so far re- “Two separate indepen- Associated Press 1993. In South Dakota, au-
quested about $639 million dent engineering reviews thorities submitted a DNA
from the Federal Emergen- indicate that a variety of SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — den her pregnancy from sample from Baby Andrew
cy Management Agency problems existed at the A South Dakota woman her friends and family and to Parabon NanoLabs,
for the Oroville Dam repairs, dam prior to the February was charged Friday in the gave birth while alone in which found two possible
said Lisa Lien-Mager of the 2017 floods. FEMA’s Public death of a newborn who her apartment, according matches using the public
state’s Natural Resources Assistance can only fund was abandoned in a ditch to a court affidavit. Benta- genealogical database
Agency. FEMA has agreed work directly linked to the 38 years ago, and police as allegedly said she then GEDmatch. Police con-
to cover $333 million. declared disaster,” Richard said they used DNA and drove the baby to the area structed a family tree and
That’s less than about a said in a statement. genealogy sites to deter- he was later discovered, a performed a “trash pull”
third of the $1.1 billion the California plans to ap- mine she was the baby’s cornfield ditch in Sioux Falls. to collect beer and water
state’s Department of Wa- peal, though it has not yet mother. Bentaas, now 57, said she containers and cigarette
ter Resources said it took to received a formal memo Theresa Rose Bentaas was was “young and stupid” butts at Bentaas’ home.
repair the dam. Spillways on from FEMA outlining its de- arrested and charged with and felt sad and scared as Results from a cheek swab
the Oroville Dam crumbled cision, Lien-Mager said. The murder and manslaughter she drove away, accord- sample show there’s “ex-
and fell away during heavy state can seek reimburse- in the 1981 death of the ing to the document. The tremely strong evidence”
rains in February 2017, forc- ment for up to 75 percent infant, known as Baby An- baby died of exposure. to support a biological rela-
ing nearly 200,000 people of the cost and may be drew. Bentaas, who was 19 when tionship between Bentaas
to evacuate amid fears the submitting more reimburse- Bentaas told authorities last the baby died, later mar- and the child, according
dam would collapse. Disas- ment requests soon.q month that she had hid- ried the infant’s father and to the affidavit.q