Woman charged with killing baby 35 years ago in KY out on bond amid forensic questions
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify how Cummins’ bond was reduced.
A woman indicted for murder recently in the case of a baby found dead more than 30 years ago in a Richmond landfill was released on bond Tuesday after prosecutors agreed to significantly lower how much she needed to pay to be released until trial.
The move comes after two experts submitted exhibits that showed the testing used to determine the baby was born alive is scientifically flawed and has been discredited in recent decades.
Jennifer Cummins, 55, of Fairfax, Va., was arrested Jan. 6 after Kentucky State Police determined she was responsible for the death of an infant abandoned in a dumpster on Eastern Kentucky University’s campus in 1991 and later found in a landfill.
Cummins was charged with murder and indicted by a grand jury Dec. 23, 2025. Her bond was initially set at $1 million, but on April 7, Madison County Commonwealth’s Attorney David Smith agreed to lower the bond it, requiring Cummins pay only $5,000.
As conditions for her bond, she must reside with her husband at their Virginia home, commit no crimes and attend all court appearances.
It was unclear if prosecutors agreed to a bond reduction because of the unreliability of the test, known as a lung float test. Cummins is still charged with murder.
“We are eager to address these allegations in court because the facts are on her side,” Cummins’ lawyer, Brad Clark, said in a statement to the Herald-Leader. “Ms. Cummins has always stated her baby was stillborn. ... “Good justice requires good science. When this case is properly resolved, it will stand as a stark reminder of the dangers of faulty forensic science and the critical need for reform in our criminal justice system.”
Two experts, including a former Kentucky medical examiner, submitted examinations March 17 arguing lung float tests had been widely discredited. The test was used to determine if the newborn took a breath outside the womb, based on whether the baby’s lung tissue floats in water.
If the lung tissue floats, it indicates the presence of air and suggests a baby was born alive. If the lung tissue sinks, it suggests a stillbirth. But the experts testified that the test often produces both false positives and negatives.
Meredith Frame, a former state medical examiner in Frankfort and now a medical pathologist at the University of Kentucky, testified the baby was likely stillborn.
“The lung float results cannot be used as the sole indicator of live birth,” Frame wrote in her findings.
The second expert, Steven White, a board certified forensic pathologist in Toronto, said the baby likely died in utero. He said the cause of death should be ruled as “undetermined.”
“Based on my education, training, and years of experience as a board-certified forensic pathologist, there is no scientific or medical way to determine that Infant Jane Doe was born alive,” White wrote. “The ‘lung float test,’ used by the forensic pathologist performing the autopsy, has been shown to be unreliable and should not be used as the sole determinant of live birth.”
What we know about the case
Cummins was arrested this year by a Fairfax County tracking task force, 35 years after a sanitation worker on EKU’s campus discovered the remains of a baby, known as “Infant Jane Doe.”
“Despite investigative efforts at the time, the case later went cold,” KSP said in a previous press release.
In recent years, state police reexamined the case with new advancements in forensic science and investigative technology, which helped identify Cummins as the person of interest. The agency has not said what technology investigators used to link Cummins to the baby.
After the baby’s remains were found, the state medical examiner ruled it had been born alive and healthy before being placed in a dumpster. The medical examiner ruled the baby died from hypothermia caused by exposure.
But the lung float test the medical examiner used to determine the baby was born alive has since been widely discredited.
A status hearing in Cummins’ case is scheduled for May 14.
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 12:36 PM.
