After 47 years, Columbus County authorities solve 1979 infant cold case

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) —  Nearly five decades after a newborn baby girl was found dead at a county landfill, authorities say they have solved one of Columbus County’s oldest cold cases.

On Tuesday, investigators with the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division, working alongside the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Coastal District and the SBI Cold Case Unit, arrested Cathy McKee, 69, of Whiteville. She is charged with felony concealing the birth of a child.

The case dates back to 1979, when the body of a newborn baby girl was discovered inside a trash bag at the Columbus County landfill. Deputies and investigators conducted what officials described as an extensive investigation at the time, but leads were exhausted and the case went unsolved for decades.

Authorities say the case was formally reopened more than a year ago. Detectives conducted a renewed review of the evidence in partnership with the SBI. Because evidence collected in 1979 had been carefully preserved, advances in DNA technology allowed investigators to develop new leads and ultimately identify McKee as the infant’s mother.

She was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon.

Sheriff Bill Rogers said the case has weighed heavily on generations of investigators.

“As a father, this case is one that hits deeply,” Rogers said in a statement. “Every child who enters this world deserves protection, love, and the chance to be known. 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. She was never just evidence, never just a report. She was a child, and she was never forgotten.”

Rogers credited the original deputies who collected and preserved evidence in 1979, saying their work made it possible for modern DNA testing to help solve the case.

“Because of the compassion and foresight of those original deputies who preserved the evidence so carefully, and because of the determination of our detectives and SBI partners who have worked tirelessly on this investigation for more than a year, we are finally able to give this child what she deserved all along — the truth,” Rogers said.

McKee is currently being held under a $20,000 bond.