VIDEO: Parents Arrested 31 Years After Newborn’s Body Found in Trash

A Louisiana couple accused of killing their baby girl in 1992 is in custody, thanks to DNA evidence and investigators’ determination to solve the case.

In April 1992, a farmer was gathering scraps to feed his animals and came upon the baby’s body, which had been placed in a bag, then wrapped in a towel, laying in a trash bin located in Picayune, Mississippi, the Associated Press (AP) reported Friday.

“An autopsy showed the baby was most likely born the morning on which it was found. It also revealed the baby was around three weeks premature and lived a few minutes before being smothered,” the article read.

The baby girl died from perinatal asphyxia due to smothering; therefore, officials deemed it a homicide. According to the Picayune Police Department, the case went cold until authorities reopened it in 2021.

However, police did not know where the baby was buried because the location was not documented in the case file, the agency continued:

We followed some tips from past officers at the department who thought she was buried in the Salem community. We were advised that a local church donated the plot and its members collected money for a headstone. In May of 2021 a headstone was found at Lee’s Chapel Baptist Church located at 27015 Leetown Rd. Picayune, MS. The headstone read “Heavens Angel” April 15, 1992- April 15, 1992. It was later confirmed by the Coroner that was the correct location the baby was buried.

Once the case was reopened, advanced DNA technology helped investigators develop suspects, thanks to evidence from the scene.

Now, Inga Johansen Carriere and Andrew K. Carriere, both 50, face charges of first-degree murder. The couple is being held without bond and is waiting on officials to extradite them to Mississippi.