Texas law enforcement finally made an arrest last week in a 23-year-old cold case involving a newborn infant who was found dead on the side of the road in Johnson County.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on July 1 that his office’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit secured the indictment of 48-year-old Shelby Stotts for recklessly causing the death of the child known as “Angel Baby Doe” when she left the newborn on the side of the road shortly after giving birth in November 2001.
According to the indictment, Stotts failed to seek medical care and did not properly tie off the newborn’s umbilical cord, which caused Angel Baby Doe to bleed to death.
For more than two decades, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigated several possible suspects hoping to establish Angel Baby Doe’s identity.
In 2021, the sheriff’s office submitted DNA samples from the newborn to Othram, a forensics company that assists law enforcement in solving cold cases. Using the evidence supplied by the sheriff’s office, Othrum built a comprehensive DNA profile for Angel Baby Doe which its forensic genetic genealogy team then used to look for possible matches.
In June 2022, the sheriff’s office enlisted the help of the Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit, which Attorney General Paxton set up the previous year to assist local law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting unsolved cases.
Last September, investigators matched DNA samples from Shelby Stotts that proved she was Angel Baby Doe’s mother.
Because Stott must be prosecuted under the laws that were in place at the time of Angel Baby Doe’s death, she was indicted on the charge of second-degree manslaughter.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Division will be prosecuting the case.
Attorney General Paxton thanked the investigative team for its “talent and tenacity” and praised the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for remaining dedicated “to uncovering the truth.”
