Newly revealed evidence has led to the arrest of a couple allegedly connected to an unsolved case in North Carolina.
The Nags Head Police Department reported on Oct. 25 that investigators had found new DNA evidence regarding the death of an infant in 1991. The evidence led the police department to arrest Scott Gordon Poole, 54 years old, and his wife, Robin Lynn Byrum, 51 years old, for “concealing birth of child,” which is considered a Class 1 felony in North Carolina.
“These arrests are a result of many years of diligent investigation by our highly-trained and dedicated law enforcement professionals,” said Nags Head Mayor Ben Cahoon in a press statement. “While they are responsible for responding to accidents and crimes, they must also defend the innocent. This is a true example of that. The Board and I appreciate their diligence in working to solve this crime.”
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According to Nags Head Police, officers were first dispatched to south Nags Head in 1991, where they found the body of an infant dumped into the garbage. The initial cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. The child’s gender was indeterminate due to decomposition. The police have examined the evidence several times without any additional information.
In 2019, the department sent the evidence to Othram, a private lab in The Woodlands, Texas. The lab recovered enough DNA from the bone to affirm genealogically who the child’s parents were and allow the officers to arrest them.
Police say that Poole and Byrum could face additional charges and that the circumstances surrounding the infant’s death are still under investigation.
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“The tragedy of this child’s death and the manner in which his body was disposed of is compounded by the fact that, until now, no one has been found responsible for this incredibly heartbreaking act,” said Nags Head Police Chief Phil Webster. “But, through the hard work of Nags Head Police investigators and our law enforcement partners in the case, those who did this will be held accountable for a death that has remained unsolved for three decades.”
