Alexander County parents arrested for death of baby found in trash can rack in the Outer Banks in 1991

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – A couple now living in Alexander County has been arrested in connection to the death of their child who was found in a trash can rack in the Outer Banks more than 30 years ago, according to the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office.

About eight months ago, the Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Nags Head Police Department in reference to a cold case investigation from April of 1991.

On this date, authorities were called to the 8600 block of East Tides Drive in south Nags Head in reference to human remains found in a trash can rack.

As they arrived at the scene, authorities found the body of an infant who appeared to have been deceased for some time. At the scene, police were unable to confirm the infant’s gender due to decomposition.

The Pitt County Medical Examiner’s Office in Greenville, NC determined that the child died by blunt force trauma to the face and asphyxiation.

Investigators completed a DNA analysis which led to a married couple living in Taylorsville on Sam Poole Ln. identified as Scott Gordon Poole, 54, and Robin Lynn Byrum, 51. It is believed that Byrum was living in the Outer Banks during the time the deceased infant was found, police said.

This August, investigators with the Alexander Co. Sheriff’s Office, Nags Head Police Department, and the NC State Bureau of Investigations conducted an operation to obtain DNA from Poole and Byrum. The DNA sample confirmed Byrum and Poole were the parents of the deceased infant, investigators said.

On Thursday, Oct. 21, investigators executed a search warrant on Sam Poole Ln. at the home of Byrum and Poole. Later that afternoon, warrants were obtained for concealing the birth of a child, a Class I Felony.

Poole and his wife, Byrum, were arrested and placed in the Alexander County Detention Center under a bond of $250,000 each. On Saturday, Oct. 23, both were transferred to the Dare County Detention Center.