DNA Leads To Arrest In Larimer County ”Baby Faith” Murder Case

The Larimer County, Colorado Sheriff's Office this week announced an arrest in the 1996 killing of a newborn baby whose body was found in Horsetooth Reservoir.

The case began on Aug. 24, 1996, when two 11-year-old boys found the body of a newborn baby girl in the reservoir.

The body of the infant was found in a trash bag and an autopsy found the baby had died by asphyxia/suffocation and that the manner of death was a homicide. As the investigation moved forward, the case came to be known as the ''Baby Faith" murder case, but despite the efforts of investigators, all leads in the case were exhausted and the case was declared "cold" in 1998.

In 2006 investigators re-opened the case again in hopes that advances in DNA technology would produce some new leads. But that failed to materialize, and the case went back into the cold file. But in November 2016, investigators decided to re-submit evidence containing DNA to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation [CBI[.

On July 17, 2019,  CBI officials met with Larimer County Sheriff's Office investigators, telling them they had identified five people who were probably related to ''Baby Faith." Four of the five were most likely to have important information about the case, according to the CBI.

On Oct. 6, 2019, investigators went to Minnesota, where three of those four people lived. After talking to the three people, investigators ruled then out from being involved in the case. They then traveled to Maryland, where the fourth person lived.

Based on information obtained in that interview, investigators believed Jennifer [Tjornehoj] Katalinich of Erie, Colo. might know something about the baby's death. Investigators met with Katalinich on October 18, 2019.

After interviewing her, Investigator Rita Servin presented her case to the Larimer County District Attorney's Office. On November 1, a warrant was issued for Katalinich's arrest. She surrendered on Nov, 5, posting a $25,000 bond that same day, according to a spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff's Office.

At last report,  she remained free on bond, according to the spokesman.