Mother Charged 25 Years After Newborn Found Dead In Dumpster: Prosecutors

ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL — A 48-year-old woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter nearly 25 years after her newborn son was found dead in a Dumpster behind a Round Lake Beach grocery store, police announced Tuesday.

Jennifer Lebron was arrested Tuesday on two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of her newborn child in August 2001, according to a joint news release from the Round Lake Beach Police Department and Lake County State's Attorney's Office.

Round Lake Beach police responded to a report of a deceased infant found inside a bag in a Dumpster behind a grocery store on Rollins Road on Aug. 26, 2001. Following the discovery, detectives from the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force launched an investigation.

A different woman was initially charged with first-degree murder in September 2001. However, investigators later determined she had never been pregnant and had no involvement in the infant's death.

The charges were dismissed the following month, and the case went cold, authorities said Tuesday.

The investigation was revived in early 2024 when Round Lake Beach detectives submitted the infant's DNA for genetic genealogy testing. Authorities said the testing identified a relative of the child's father, allowing investigators to eventually identify both the father and the child's mother as Lebron.

Police said the father is not suspected of any criminal wrongdoing.

After interviewing Lebron, reviewing evidence and working with the Lake County State's Attorney's Office, prosecutors approved two counts of involuntary manslaughter. The infant was later given the name Jacob Hope by AMT Children of Hope, with assistance from the Lake County Public Guardian, to honor the child.

Lebron was taken into custody Tuesday morning on an arrest warrant and was scheduled to make her first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.