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Posted on 04/17/2026 7:00:06 PM PDT by TheDon
Arizona’s Family has learned new information about the life an Arizona woman had after she allegedly killed her baby 45 years ago in North Dakota.
Investigators said Nancy Trottier, 65, lived a life of serving the disabled following the alleged crime.
She had no criminal history when she was arrested in Arizona last week and is charged with murder.
For 41 years, Trottier was a teacher at the North Dakota School for the Deaf. She is a mother of four who has dedicated her life to teaching children with disabilities.
The baby, whom police named Rebecca, was discovered in the woods on the Valley City State University campus in April 1981. The body had plastic covering her face, and the umbilical cord was still attached.
Advancements in DNA cracked the cold case. During an interview with investigators, Trottier said, “Maybe it was me,” according to court documents.
“The defendant’s DNA was also confirmed to be present on items found at the location where the victim was located, including on a fingernail clipper and other items that contained human blood,” said Barnes County State’s Attorney Tonya Duffy during Trottier’s first court appearance.
According to court documents, Trottier was attending Valley City State University and dating her now-husband when she gave birth and shortly afterward suffocated her daughter.
“When the defendant was set to meet with law enforcement again to go over DNA findings, law enforcement learned that she had attempted suicide,” Duffy said during Trottier’s first court appearance.
The mystery of what happened to Baby Rebecca haunted the small North Dakota town.
“It’s been a long, trying ordeal,” said Lance Peterson, a Valley City resident.
Detectives believe that after the crime, Trottier finished school and went on to lead an exemplary life. She had four more children and taught children who were hard of hearing. After retiring in 2024, she moved to Sun Lakes in the East Valley with her husband.
“It’s a terrible decision that she made. It is a life that is lost, but it’s also been 45 years. And I think she’s been spending each of those years, at first intentionally and then later unintentionally, thinking that if she does more good, it will offset the bad thing that she did when she was in her early 20s,” said John Delatorre, a forensic psychologist.
He said he suspects Trottier’s actions were motivated by fear and self-preservation.
“It’s easy to sort of just say that it’s the person’s disposition that she must be a psychopath or a cold-hearted woman or something like that when the evidence tells us that that’s not true. She made a choice and she needs to pay the price for that choice. But we are much more complex than just one behavior that we engaged in 40 years ago,” said Delatorre.
Trottier is in custody awaiting a hearing in May.
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Shake her hand.
Then hang her.
L
There is no statute of limitations on murder crimes.
The shrink can go to hell. What a stupid simp.
“He said he suspects Trottier’s actions were motivated by fear and self-preservation.”
Times were very different then. We had not gotten to the child sacrifice level we are now. This defense does not hold water. She committed murder, and I wonder how she has lived with herself unless she is a sociopath.
“The shrink can go to hell. What a stupid simp.”
Why dou you think she should not pay the price?
Shrink: “She made a choice and she needs to pay the price for that choice.”
For all you out there wanting to blame only her - think about all the people who would have condemned her for having a baby out of wedlock. Family members too. Maybe her husband.
Girls who got pregnant in those days were severely punished. The guys just walked away, sometimes with a smile.
Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone.
A lot of people talk about repentance and forgiveness but very few actually believe in it. But their lust for vengeance is real enough even if they’ve never heard of the person or the crime they’re condemning.
How did she get pregnant? I’m just a few years older than her, it wasn’t the Puritan era at that time. She might have been shamed in some social circles, but we were past the hard condemnation, and I am confused why women are exempt from from consequences. There was a time women recognized sex outside of marriage had consequences. Now we kill those consequences.
Charge her.
Then she is the only one responsible.
There were any number of other options.
She chose murder.
You should hunt her down and kill her. The Old Testament commands you. Disobience is a sin.
After I was out of the house, one of my younger sisters got pregnant in high school. My mother was so humiliated. She never admitted to me that my sister was pregnant. But they made my sister carry that child to birth and give it up for adoption. Someplace out there I have a nephew that I’ve never met, but at least he was given life.
You talk about "lust for vengeance" and throw justice to the ground and stamp on it.
Murder is acceptable as long as you feel self righteous.
It appears to me that her 41 years of life since then is evidence of repentance.
They will now do their job.
But it is good to know who on the board finds murder acceptable.
Repentance is accepting responsibility.
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