Woman arrested in 1992 Iowa City cold case, Missouri sheriff speaks out

CLEVER, Missouri (KCRG) – Authorities made an arrest in a 1992 Cold Case out of Iowa City. It was in December of that year that sanitation workers found the body of a newborn in the Iowa City landfill.

32 years later, investigators identified Cindy Elder as the baby’s mother. She was arrested in Missouri, where she lives now. Prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder.

A landfill worker found the body of Baby John Doe on December 21st, 1992.

At that time, the cause of death was undetermined due to a lack of information about the labor and delivery of the newborn, who still had the placenta attached.

Now, we know the full story as to what happened and how he ended up in the landfill.

Investigators reopened the case in 2020 because of new advancements in DNA technology.

DNA from the baby led right to Cindy Elder. Investigators believe she was 26 when she delivered Baby John Doe.

No one knew Elder was pregnant.

According to the criminal complaint, she had tried to induce a miscarriage.

When she gave birth in the basement of a home where she was staying, she ‘did something’ to keep the baby quiet.

Then, she put the baby in a plastic bag and left it in the trash receptacle near her father’s apartment in Coralville.

It was freezing outside, with the low temperature at zero degrees.

“Anytime that somebody makes a decision to do what she did with this baby, it just appalls me,” said Brad Cole, sheriff of Christian County, Missouri.

Missouri officials arrested Elder early Tuesday morning.

“To be honest with you, our investigators, when they got the phone call that the warrant had been issued yesterday, it kind of caught them off guard because there’s a lot of time between when we began this investigation and now,” Cole said.

The case will be prosecuted by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who provided this statement to TV9:

“The goal of our Cold Case Unit is to aid local law enforcement in their unresolved homicide cases. While I am happy to say our experienced investigators were able to assist in the investigations that led to today’s arrest, I want to give full credit to the tireless work of the Iowa City Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations for never giving up on justice for this tiny victim. Now the Johnson County Attorney’s Office and prosecutors from my office will work to ensure justice is fully served.”

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