Cold Case: Christmas Eve Murders
(WCCO) -- On Christmas Eve in 1998, 18-year-old Carrie Richter and her 20-year-old boyfriend Dustin Baity were found murdered in their Northeast Minneapolis apartment.
Relatives found the couple in their four-plex when they failed to show up for the holiday. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death was asphyxiation.
Minneapolis homicide investigators are taking a fresh look at the unsolved mystery after Baity's siblings contacted them seeking answers and justice.
Police and family members are hoping anyone with information on this case will call the Minneapolis Police Department's tip line at 612-692-TIPS.
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Young, In Love And Murdered On Christmas Eve 1998
Minneapolis police will soon create a cold case unit to focus on some of the hundreds of unsolved murders in the city. One case already under review involves a young couple murdered on Christmas Eve almost nine years ago.
Homicide officials recently agreed to take a fresh look at the case of 20-year-old Dustin Baity and his 18-year-old girlfriend Carrie Richter. Relatives found Baity and Richter murdered in their Northeast Minneapolis apartment on December 24, 1998.
At the time, the couple worked at a glass factory and they were making plans to spend their lives together. Baity and Richter are now buried side by side at a nearby cemetery.
"Christmas will never be the same. It will always be the day my brother died. It will never be just Christmas. It can't. There's always people missing," said Dawn Baity, Dustin's big sister. "They were so perfect for each other … they were forever."
Dawn Baity and her brother Dan are bitter that no one has been brought to justice for the couple's murders. That's what prompted them to go to the media and police, appealing for help to catch a killer.
"They took away my little brother. He was my best friend," said Dan Baity. He doesn't think a stranger killed the couple.
"It would be a really big relief to me because I have a problem with everybody. I think everybody did it," he said.
"I am hoping enough time has passed that bridges have been broken," added Dawn Baity.
After hearing from the Baity family, Minneapolis police Captain Dave Hayhoe assigned a homicide investigator to take a fresh look at the nine-year-old double murder.
"Murder cases are never closed. So we are always going to be working them and we are hoping we can find justice for both victims in this case," said Hayhoe.
Dawn Baity hopes another Christmas Eve doesn't go by without answers and justice for her youngest brother and his girlfriend.
"It is not going to change our holidays. Not going to change how I feel on his birthday. It will never change that. But at least someone will have to stand there and tell us what happened, and why," she said.
Hayhoe hopes time will work in their favor and someone will pick up the phone and call the Minneapolis Police Department tip line with information. The number is 612-692-TIPS.
