Parents Of Dead Teenager Battle Baltimore City Police Over The Investigation
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Harsh words and new revelations from the parents of a dead teenager found in Southeast Baltimore.
Mike Hellgren has the new twists in their daughter's mysterious death.
Annie McCann's parents don't buy the police explanation that she killed herself, and announced they plan to file a lawsuit against the state over their daughter's missing organs.
The anguished parents of Annie McCann lashed out at police and prosecutors for the handling of their daughter's death investigation.
"Can you accept accountability as easily as you cash your paychecks? Have you no shame?" Mary Jane McCann, Annie McCann's mother, said.
Police found the teen's dead body at a housing project near Fells Point more than three years ago. Detectives believe she killed herself by drinking bactine.
But her mom and dad don't buy it. They say after a recent, promising meeting with the new head of homicide, relations with the cops have again turned sour.
"Baltimore police never honestly investigated Annie's death," Dan McCann, Annie McCann's father, said.
"We can't even pretend to imagine what this family is going through," Anthony Guglielmi, spokesperson for the Baltimore City Police Department, said. "In terms of the investigation, officially the investigation is listed as open. However, there is no evidence, physical or otherwise, to suggest that Annie McCann was a victim of homicide."
The McCann's have spent countless hours and thousands of dollars investigating their daughter's death, and they went to the National Press Club to reinvigorate interest in their daughter's story.
They also dropped this bombshell: They claim the state medical examiner's office lost their daughter's organs.
"The state has no right to abort our effort at Christian burial by carelessly losing our Annie's brain, her heart and her very essence," Mary Jane McCann said.
The parents are demanding more follow-up in several areas, saying they identified the woman last seen with their daughter in Baltimore, and believe more questioning should be done of the teens who they believe dumped their daughter's body out of her Volvo and took the car for a joyride. One has since been charged with murder in another case.
"We will never stop," Mary Jane McCann said. "The pain will never go away. The grief will never go away."
The state Medical Examiner's Office would not comment specifically on Annie McCann's case, but says they follow strict standards under the law and sometimes organs are retained for further investigation and are disposed appropriately.
McCann's parents also say there was blunt force trauma to their daughter's head. Police say they spent thousands of hours on this case and a new review turned up no new information.
