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 30-years-ago there were no real clues in the death of an infant. When a baby was found dead in a trash bag thrown in a dumpster the police in Mississippi investigated. The baby was discovered behind Mr. Gatti's Pizza at 704 Memorial Boulevard in the relatively small community of Picayune.

The discovery was made by a farmer. Police say he was taking the bags to feed old pizza dough to his pigs.

An autopsy performed at the time determined the baby was born three weeks premature. And probably only lived for less than a day before being smothered. The town was saddened by the death, but there were more questions than answers. 

The case quickly went cold. And the evidence was carefully preserved and stored expertly for three decades.

Arrests made in the death of an infant

Picayune police Detective Rhonda Johnson re-opened the case in 2021. She discovered the case file while working on another cold case.

“I noticed a box that said baby doe on it. So, I asked my evidence technician Theresa Milar, who has been here forever, what that case was about. She explained to me, and I kind of remember hearing about that, and I said, 'We’ll have to work on that one next,'" Johnson said.

Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) agent Christa Groom helped solve the case by sending DNA collected at the scene in 1992 to a crime lab in Texas.

The Picayune Police, the MIB, and ultimately the Louisiana State Police worked together on different phases of the case.

Through genetic genealogy the baby’s parents were identified as Louisiana natives. And it is suspected that the child was murdered in Louisiana. 

A couple from Louisiana has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Inga Carriere was arrested in Jefferson Parish on February 28, while Andrew Carriere was arrested on March 9 in Galliano. 

The baby was buried in 1992 at Lee's Chapel Baptist Church in Picayune. Johnson says the donations from the community paid for the headstone, the funeral, and the burial of the child. The town where the newborn was abandoned gave her a name better than BabyDoe.

“I think that name's appropriate. Heaven’s Angel," Detective Johnson said.