Case dropped against Inga and Andrew Carriere

Inga Johansen Carriere and Andrew K. Carriere II (L-R, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office), (C) the grave where the newborn baby girl was buried (via Fox 8 screengrab)

Authorities confirmed that they dropped their criminal case against a couple who allegedly smothered a newborn girl to death and threw her away in a trash bag. The charges against Inga and Andrew Carriere were “refused for insufficient evidence,” said Paul Purpura, a public information officer for the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office in Louisiana.

Investigators previously said a farmer in Picayune, Mississippi, discovered the infant’s body inside a garbage bag behind a pizzeria more than three decades ago.

“The case in question involved the discovery of a female infant’s body inside a garbage bag in Picayune, MS, on April 17, 1992. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death was perinatal asphyxia due to smothering, and the case was classified as a homicide,” state police said in a press release on the arrests of Andrew Carriere and Inga Johansen Carriere, both then 50 at the time.

Both were charged with first-degree murder. Authorities allege that the couple murdered the victim in Louisiana and crossed state lines to discard her remains.