Police arrest woman accused of murder in Baby Boy Horry case
The woman police say gave birth to Baby Boy Horry and left him in the woods a decade ago has been arrested.
Horry County police announced around 5 p.m. Tuesday that Jennifer Sahr, 32, was arrested by the Carolina Regional Fugitive U.S. Marshals Task Force. She will be held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center pending a bond hearing.
Her arrest happened just hours after police announced they were looking for Sahr in connection to the 2008 cold case. She will be charged with homicide by child abuse and faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Utility workers found Baby Boy Horry in a bag along Meadowbrook Road in the Conway area on Dec. 4, 2008. Local officials gave the deceased infant the name “Baby Boy Horry” after efforts to find his mother were unsuccessful.
Authorities say forensic testing confirmed Sahr is the biological mother of Baby Boy Horry. Sahr was a Coastal Carolina University student when Baby Boy Horry was found and went by her maiden name of Rickel.
A Jennifer Rickel was named to the Dean’s list in January 2009, just a month after Baby Boy Horry case started. Rickel graduated CCU in December 2010.
Police released few details of what led them to name Sahr as the suspect in the case. They would only say it was based on scientific evidence. She was most recently living in the Pensacola, Florida, area.
Horry County police Lt. Jamie DeBari was a homicide detective in 2008 and said he remembers when the child was found in the woods. He spoke during a Tuesday press conference announcing Sahr as a suspect in the case.
Baby Boy Horry was alive at one point and could have lived if it was properly cared for, DeBari said.
The case remained with DeBari for the last decade and recently he told his wife that he hoped it would be solved before he retired.
“Some [cases] seem to have a significant impact not only on communities, but on the law enforcement officers out there,” DeBari said.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 5:38 PM.
