A North Carolina woman was nabbed nearly five decades after her dead baby girl was discovered stuffed in a trash bag at a local landfill – ending a desperate search for the newborn’s mother that began in 1979.
Investigators reopened the decades-old cold case and used DNA evidence to tie Cathy McKee, 69, to the Columbus County landfill where the baby was found dead 47 years ago, according to the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office.
Police arrested the derelict mom Tuesday, but didn’t disclose the baby’s cause of death.
“For 47 years, this baby girl’s life – however brief – mattered to the investigators who first held that case in their hands and to every detective who reviewed it after,” Sheriff Bill Rogers said in a statement.
“She was never just evidence, never just a report. She was a child, and she was never forgotten.”
The original investigators carefully preserved the evidence, helping to eventually solve the case, Rogers said.
It was reopened more than a year ago when detectives and other state law enforcement agencies used advances in DNA technology to analyze the evidence, pursue new leads and ultimately link McKee to the slain baby, cops said.
“Because of the compassion and foresight of those original deputies who preserved the evidence so carefully, and because of the determination of our detectives … who have worked tirelessly on this investigation, we are finally able to give this child what she deserved all along — the truth,” Rogers added.
The sheriff said the initial investigation “exhausted” every lead before the probe went cold.
McKee, of Whiteville, was charged with felony concealing the birth of a child — but is being spared murder charges.
Rogers explained McKee was charged under the laws on the books in 1979, adding that she would likely be slapped with murder if the crime happened today, WECT reported.
Police didn’t disclose the baby’s cause of death.
McKee’s arrest, meanwhile, sent shockwaves through her neighborhood, leaving residents in disbelief.
“I couldn’t hardly believe it,” neighbor Sue Tyson told WWAY.
“That’s terrible. I only know her just from living on the same road that she lives on, but I always thought of her as a real nice person.”
McKee was reportedly released from custody after posting a $5,000 bond.
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