A 41-Year-Old Mystery Solved? Bristol County Indicts Mother for 1985 Newborn Murder

An Attleboro woman has been indicted for the 1985 murder of her newborn son, the latest cold case to move forward through Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III’s expanded efforts to identify remains through DNA testing and other means.

Quinn announced today that Dianne Curry Peck, 59, of Attleboro, was indicted this afternoon by a Bristol County Grand Jury.

She is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning, June 30, in Fall River Superior Court.

Grim 1985 Discovery in the Mansfield Woods

On the morning of January 26, 1985, a father and son were traveling through the woods along Fruit Street in Mansfield in order to go rabbit hunting. According to a 2022 release from the D.A.’s Office regarding the Unidentified Bodies Project, the father noticed footprints in the snow that ended at a stone wall. He started to climb over the wall when he noticed what he originally thought was a doll lying in the snow, but it turned out to be the naked body of a newborn baby. The body was partially covered by snow and was deceased.

They returned to their vehicle and drove a short distance to the Mansfield Airport, where they called Mansfield Police.

READ MORE: Bristol County Cold Cases Heat Up in Push to Identify Bodies

When police arrived at the scene, they determined the deceased infant was a Caucasian boy. The State Medical Examiner determined the child had been born alive but had died a short time after his birth.

DNA Testing and the Unidentified Bodies Project

The child was buried in Spring Brook Cemetery in Mansfield, and evidence recovered from the baby’s body was tested in order to help identify him as part of the Unidentified Bodies Project.