Woman Pleads Guilty to Killing Newborn at Sheppard Air Force Base in 1988 Cold Case

WICHITA FALLS, Texas – A 58-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1988 death of her newborn son at Sheppard Air Force Base, resolving a decades-old cold case that investigators ultimately cracked using forensic genetic genealogy.

Tammy Sue Kerns pleaded guilty Sept. 9 to killing the newborn on or about Aug. 4, 1988, while she was working at the U.S. Air Force Regional Hospital at Sheppard Air Force Base.

The case began when a full-term infant was discovered dead in a laundry bin at Ponds Laundry in Wichita Falls. The baby had been wrapped in linens from the Air Force hospital.

An autopsy found evidence that the boy had been born alive and had no morphological abnormalities. Toxicology testing was negative, and his cause of death was determined to be hypovolemia and anemia.

Investigators were unable to identify the child’s parents at the time, and the case eventually went cold.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations reopened the investigation in 2015. Two years later, an Air Force pathology unit located genetic material preserved from the infant and sent it for additional DNA testing.

A major breakthrough came in 2022 when forensic DNA company Othram tested tissue samples retained from 1988 and used forensic genetic genealogy to search for biological relatives.

That work led investigators in 2023 to a man identified in court documents as M.R., who was considered a potential father. Investigators interviewed him in December 2024, and subsequent DNA testing confirmed he was the infant’s biological father.

Investigators then examined Air Force personnel rosters from Andrews Air Force Base and Sheppard Air Force Base during 1987 and 1988.

According to court records, investigators determined Kerns was the only female service member who had been stationed at Andrews at the same time as M.R. during the likely conception period and then reassigned to Sheppard by the time the child was born.

AFOSI investigators interviewed Kerns on May 20, 2025. She admitted being the child’s mother and said she had concealed her pregnancy and received no medical care during it, according to federal prosecutors.

Plea Papers Detail What Happened Inside Hospital

In her plea papers, Kerns admitted going into labor while working a night shift at the hospital.

She went into an X-ray room, locked the doors so no one could enter and gave birth alone, according to the plea documents.

Kerns admitted placing her hand over the newborn’s mouth until he stopped crying or breathing. She then severed the umbilical cord, wrapped the baby in hospital linens and placed his body in a laundry bin.

Kerns cleaned the X-ray room and returned to work, according to her admissions in the plea agreement.

She voluntarily provided investigators with a DNA sample following her May 2025 interview. Testing confirmed she was the infant’s biological mother.

Kerns was formally charged Sept. 1 with unlawfully killing the newborn with malice aforethought.

Under her plea agreement, Kerns faces between five and 20 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to five years of supervised release.

Her sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2027, before Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations conducted the investigation.