Inga and Andrew Carriere: DNA reveals Louisiana couple smothered newborn, threw her in trash in 1992
PICAYUNE, MISSISSIPPI: A Louisiana couple was arrested and charged after DNA technology revealed that they allegedly smothered a newborn baby to death and tossed her into a dumpster behind a restaurant in Picayune, Mississippi.
Andrew K Carriere II and Inga Johansen Carriere, both 50, were charged with first-degree murder after advanced DNA technology helped crack a 1992 cold case and identify the couple as the infant's biological parents. The baby was reportedly discovered by a farmer on April 15, 1992, while he was rummaging through dumpsters behind a pizzeria to find feed for his animals.
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Smothered to death
The infant's body was reportedly wrapped in a towel and stuffed inside a trash bag along with pieces of garbage. "I moved the towel, and I says, 'oh my god! that's a little doll,'" the farmer, identified as Hayward Fleming, told WWL-TV back in 1992. "Then I said that ain't a doll. That's human flesh. And it turned me sick. I just got out and got my truck drove to my house, and called the authorities," he added.
An autopsy conducted by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office found the baby was around three weeks premature and had lived for just a couple of minutes before she was smothered to death. Officials determined the cause of death as perinatal asphyxia due to smothering and the case was classified as a homicide. However, investigators were unable to identify any suspects at the time and the case went cold. It was only reopened in 2021 after a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agent offered to help thanks to a grant that would fund forensic genetic testing of the evidence.
Advanced DNA technology
Modern-day DNA technology helped zero in on the infant's parents, who were identified as the Carrieres, officials said. The duo was reportedly living in Louisiana at the time of the grisly discovery. “With the help of advanced technology, DNA profiles, and fingerprints were developed from the preserved evidence. Through investigative means, detectives were able to identify the infant’s parents as 50-year-old Andrew Carriere and 50-year-old Inga Johansen Carriere, who were living in Louisiana at the time of the death,” police said in statement.
Arrest warrants were obtained shortly after and Inga was arrested on February 28 at her residence in Avondale, Louisiana. Days later, Carriere was arrested in Galliano, Louisiana, on March 9. Both suspects were booked into Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and were held without bond while awaiting extradition to Mississippi. Investigators believe the couple killed the baby in Louisiana and crossed state lines to discard her remains, leaving many to wonder whether a federal case might be brought against the Carrieres.
Defendant 'believed child was stillborn'
Paul Fleming, a longtime Jefferson Parish public defender representing Inga, said there was "evidence to show that my client believed the child was stillborn, which would not be newborn or baby or infant, and would not be a crime either," per WDSU. Fleming said that his office was in the preliminary stages of its own investigation. "What we have determined so far would tend to exonerate our client. We don't think she had any guilty knowledge of this incident that happened more than 30 years ago," he added.
Meanwhile, Freddy Drennan, who was the Picayune police chief when the child's remains were found, said he had not forgotten the case. "As I tell people, in law enforcement, you don't work these cases. You live them," Drennan told WWL-TV, adding, "And you know, this is one of those cases that I had hoped all along that we would be able to put some closure to."