DNA could help solve 1971 killing of newborn found in Rowan County dumpster

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Detectives in Rowan County believe they are close to solving the county’s oldest documented unsolved killing.

According to Rowan County Sheriff Travis Allen, a lieutenant over criminal investigations had been going through old unsolved homicide cases when he found the file of “Unknown Baby Girl Found in Trash Dump.”

“The child never even -- that we knew of -- had a name,” Allen said.

“Baby Eva” was found in a dumpster on March 20, 1971. According to the medical examiner’s report, the newborn died after someone stabbed her in the head.

“All these thoughts go through your mind of what happened to this child,” Allen said.

On Monday, Rowan County sheriff’s detectives said they sent hair evidence from the case file to a lab that is processing it for DNA evidence. The lab has confirmed there’s still DNA in the hair, saying further testing might help identify the baby.

Detectives said the infant’s remains were held at the medical examiner’s office for a year before she was cremated on March 21, 1972 -- a common practice in that decade.

“It’s the justice of the child, the mother, and what happened,” Allen said.

The sheriff’s office nicknamed the infant “Baby Eva” based on Eve in the Bible, which means “life” in Hebrew.

Investigators said they were able to locate exactly where Baby Eva was found almost 53 years ago. Back then, the property located outside of the town of Granite Quarry at 1015 Dunns Mountain Road was an abandoned quarry. A dirt road leading to the quarry was used as a place to dump trash, which is where the baby was found, detectives said.

Today, the quarry is used as a diving facility and the property is owned by Piedmont Diving and Rescue Association.

Deputies said they haven’t found anyone in the community with helpful details about the case. The person who found the body, Arthur Joe Trexler, died in 1984 at age 76.

On Tuesday, Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz went the Rowan County Public Library history room to see if she could dig up some more information. She found old photos of the sheriff at the time, as well as slide after slide of archived newspaper microfilm.

Goetz was only able to find one newspaper article about the baby girl. It’s a tiny article from the front page on March 23, three days after they found the body.

Now, the single strand of hair is a tiny but critical clue that could lead to the big break investigators have been waiting for.

“I think we in law enforcement should do everything we can to solve every crime that we can,” Allen said.

The State Bureau of Investigation is funding the DNA testing and is helping with the murder case. Anyone with information that might help solve it can call Rowan County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ryan Barkley at 704-216-8711.

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