The body of Baby Carrie was discovered inside a bin bag by four school children who were playing at the Lough Moss Leisure Centre in Carryduff, County Down in Northern Ireland
A desperate mission to solve the tragic murder of a baby discovered in a bin bag continues – nearly 23 years on.
Police have said this week their commitment to cracking the case of Baby Carrie has “not diminished”, even though she was found dead in March 2002.
Four school children playing at the Lough Moss Leisure Centre in Carryduff, County Down in Northern Ireland made the grim discovery and alerted police, who believed the baby had suffered multiple stab wounds and head injuries.
But she hasn’t had justice in the decades since, and Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) remain determined to progress the investigation. Officers in Carryduff again want her mum to come forward.
It is believed that Baby Carrie had been originally buried in a garden or flowerbed and, weeks later, her body was removed and placed in a bin bag. She died shortly after her birth, it is understood.
The infant was named after the location she was found in, Carryduff, by former PSNI detective chief superintendent Roy McComb who initially led the investigation into her murder.
As Belfast Live today reports, in 2018, the officer said he “never blamed Carrie’s mother” and always thought “there was another pair of hands” involved in her death, appealing for her mum to come forward and speak to police.
As part of the investigation into the baby’s muder, police have gathered 1300 voluntary DNA samples from women and girls in Carryduff and have visited 1500 homes in the area as part of the investigation.
The PSNI say they remain committed to giving Baby Carrie “both justice and her true identity” as the investigation continues 23 years later. As of yet, neither parent of the young girl has been identified and nobody has been charged in connection with her death.
Detective Chief Inspector Jenna Fitzpatrick, from Legacy Investigation Branch, said: “The passage of time has not diminished our commitment to solving this case and to giving Baby Carrie both justice and her true identity.
The investigation remains open within the caseload of Legacy Investigation Branch, and over the past 23 years we have carried out extensive enquiries and have made multiple public appeals for information. We have also collected just under 1,300 voluntary DNA samples from women and girls in Carryduff and have visited 1500 homes in the area as part of the investigation. Where we identify credible investigative lines of enquiry capable of progressing the investigation in the future, we will follow them.
“I believe the answers to what happened to Baby Carrie lie within the community in Carryduff, and I will take this opportunity to urge anyone with any knowledge of the circumstances of her death, her identity, or that of her parents, to please come and speak to us. We understand that it may be hard, but it is never too late to tell us what you know – we are ready to listen.”
