Parents say police botched investigation of daughter’s death

Hank Silverberg, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Annie McCann, a 16-year-old from the Groveton area of Fairfax County, died under mysterious circumstances around Halloween in 2008. More than three years later, her parents are accusing Baltimore Police of botching the investigation and ignoring new evidence.

McCann’s body was found dumped in the trash in Baltimore on Nov. 2, 2008. How the West Potomac High School student got to Baltimore and why she was there has never been made clear.

Her parents, Mary Jane and Dan McCann, say she may have run away or she may have been lured there by people she met in church, but they have never agreed with the city police, who listed her death as a likely suicide.

No official cause of death has ever been issued, but police originally said McCann died of an overdose of Lidocaine from a bottle of Bactine.

“The medical examiner has never ever ruled out homicide as the manner of Annie’s death,” says Mary Jane McCann who is convinced her daughter was murdered.

She says Baltimore Police have refused to dig deeper into the case even after several witnesses came forward, and after one man questioned during the initial investigation was charged with another murder.

Dan McCann says police have ignored new evidence.

“We are hoping the case might be turned over to the cold case unit,” he says.

The couple also are contemplating a lawsuit, though they would like to see the FBI or the Maryland State Police take another look at the evidence.

A spokesman for Baltimore Police says the case is still open pending any new investigative leads. A letter informing the McCanns of this was recently released.

The McCanns say they will never let the case go.

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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Removed.)

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