Oklahoma Woman Accused of Killing Newborn Baby By Slashing Throat After Delivery

A woman from Oklahoma was charged on Friday for the 1993 murder of her baby, whom she allegedly slashed in the throat before burying the remains in the backyard, turning the child’s death into a cold case for decades.

Meaonia Michelle Allen, a 53-year-old woman, surrendered herself to the authorities on Friday after confessing previously to having slashed the throat of her newborn baby in 1993, which has come to be identified by authorities as “Baby Doe,” according to Law&Crime.

The baby’s body was first discovered in December 1993 in the backyard of a homeowner, who reported the remains to the police immediately. An autopsy in 1993 determined that the child was born alive and that they died via throat-slashing, though the case went cold for decades after that, KFOR News reported.

The case remained cold until the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) assigned it to a Cold Case unit in 2020. The team used the DNA acquired from the baby and gave it to Parabon Nanolabs in order to help them create new leads on the case.

The new leads for the case led to Allen, who reportedly confessed to the crime after the DNA sample that she gave the authorities matched the baby. Allen worked at a day care center during the death of the infant.

“[A]n OSBI Special Agent met with Allen at the Durant Police Department. During the interview, Allen agreed to submit[] samples of her DNA to be tested to determine if she was the biological mother of Baby Doe,” the authorities wrote in a statement.

“Shortly after providing a DNA sample, Allen admitted that she was, in fact, the biological mother of Baby Doe. During a follow-up interview a few days later, Allen admitted to cutting the baby’s throat shortly after his birth.”

“The synergy between our agents and criminalists to solve cold cases, especially those with an unidentified victim, is to be applauded,” Ricky Adams, OSBI director, said. “Identifying the use of genetic genealogy as a tool and the work of Parabon and our internal genealogy specialist provided significant leads in this disturbing case. Baby Doe can now be properly laid to rest and his killer will be held accountable.”

Allen has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder with deliberate intent and is being held in Choctaw County Detention Center without bail.