Cathy McKee charged in 47-year-old North Carolina new child chilly case

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Practically 50 years after a new child child woman was present in a trash bag at a North Carolina landfill, authorities have arrested a girl in one of many space’s oldest unsolved chilly instances.

The Columbus County Sheriff’s Workplace introduced Feb. 25 that Cathy McKee, 69, of Whiteville, North Carolina was arrested and charged with felony concealing the beginning of a kid. McKee was identified through DNA testing because the toddler’s mom.

The investigation started in 1979 after the new child’s physique was found at a Columbus County landfill. Regardless of an intensive investigation, all leads have been finally exhausted. Nonetheless, investigators mentioned the case was "by no means forgotten."

<source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/343/192/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/686/384/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="192" width="343"><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/672/378/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/1344/756/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/931/523/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/1862/1046/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"><source media="(min-width: 1280px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/720/405/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/1440/810/cathy-mckee-arrested-and-charged-with-felony-concealing-the-birth-of-a-child.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="405" width="720"> Cathy McKee was arrested on Feb. 24, practically 50 years after a new child child was discovered at a North Carolina landfill. (Columbus County Sheriff’s Workplace)

"For 47 years, this child woman’s story was carried ahead — handed from one generation of investigators to the following," the sheriff's division mentioned. "Some who first labored the scene are nonetheless remembered at present; others have since retired, moved on, or handed away."

The division mentioned the duty felt by the unique investigators "didn't fade," calling the case a long-lasting reminder that the kid deserved to be remembered and her story deserved solutions.

Officers famous that though the case predated fashionable DNA technology , investigators used "extraordinary care" in preserving proof, which in the end made the arrest potential a long time later.

"Their professionalism, compassion, and foresight ensured that this child woman wouldn't be misplaced to time," the division mentioned.

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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/672/378/cathy-mckee-arrested-by-columbus-county-sheriffs-office.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/1344/756/cathy-mckee-arrested-by-columbus-county-sheriffs-office.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/931/523/cathy-mckee-arrested-by-columbus-county-sheriffs-office.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/1862/1046/cathy-mckee-arrested-by-columbus-county-sheriffs-office.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> Cathy McKee, 69, was arrested after investigators used fashionable DNA testing to determine her in reference to a new child child discovered at a Columbus County landfill in 1979. (Columbus County Sheriff’s Workplace)

The case was formally reopened greater than a 12 months in the past, and investigators have been in a position to pursue new leads utilizing advances in DNA testing, in the end figuring out McKee because the child’s mom.

Sheriff Invoice Rogers mentioned that even after practically half a century, the kid was "by no means forgotten."

"As a father, this case is one which hits deeply. Each little one who enters this world deserves safety, love, and the prospect to be identified," he mentioned. "For 47 years, this child woman’s life — nevertheless temporary — mattered to the investigators who first held that case of their palms and to each detective who reviewed it after. She was by no means simply proof, by no means only a report. She was a toddler, and she or he was by no means forgotten."

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The Columbus County Sheriff’s Workplace introduced an arrest on Feb. 25 in a chilly case from 1979 the place a new child was discovered useless in a landfill. (Columbus County Sheriff’s Workplace)