A Louisiana couple has been arrested for the 1992 cold case slaying of a newborn girl who was smothered and tossed into the dumpster of a Mississippi restaurant.
Inga Johansen Carriere and Andrew K. Carriere II, both 50, were charged with first-degree murder after police — using advanced DNA technology — identified the pair as the infant’s parents.
The heartless killing sent shockwaves through the town of Picayune, Miss., where a farmer discovered the tiny body while collecting garbage to feed his animals.
The dead baby had been put inside a trash bag wrapped in a towel and pieces of garbage, Fox 8 reports.
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the infant was around three weeks premature and alive for only a few minutes before she was smothered.
Although Picayune Police collected some pieces of evidence from the crime scene, the case went cold until investigators reopened it in 2021 — when a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agent offered to help, aided by a grant that would cover forensic genetic testing of the evidence.
The tests found matching grandparents who lived in Louisiana, leading state police to gather DNA of their four children. Through the testing, officials were able to link the infant to the Carrieres.
Arrest warrants were issued for the couple, with Inga arrested Feb. 28 and Andrew taken into custody March 9 in Galliano, La.. Along with the murder charge, the couple was also booked for desecration of a body.
The pair are being held without bond at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Facility while awaiting extradition to Mississippi.
Freedy Drennan, a former investigator who worked on the case decades ago, thanked his successors for their persistence as he visited the baby’s grave at a local cemetery.
‘I’m just glad that is brought to a conclusion,” Drennan told Fox 8. “I didn’t care who brought it to a conclusion, I just wanted to see it.”
The Louisiana State Police said in a statement the “breakthrough in the case is a testament to the advancements in forensic technology and the dedication of law enforcement agencies to bring justice to victims and their families.”
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