A killing frozen in time

A father and his children fishing in the Back River in Essex spotted a body in the water back on July 11, 1981, and police would later identify the victim as 25-year-old Joseph Carroll.

That’s where the trail ran cold.

“We don’t really have any leads to follow up on in this case, and unfortunately, the individual was kind of estranged from their family so we don’t even have connections or ties to put this all together as to what happened to Mr. Carroll,” said Baltimore County Police Detective Trae Corbin.

Carroll was fully clothed in that water and an autopsy later revealed that he had died from trauma to the upper body.

“It doesn’t appear the person was shot,” said Corbin, “It may have been blunt force trauma.”

DNA was still in its infancy 43 years ago, and the fact that the body had been in the water for sometime further complicates the search for evidence there, but detectives remain hopeful.

Baltimore County Police Department

“So that doesn’t necessarily help our forensic investigators, but through technologies and advances, we can still use what we have to try to go ahead and bring justice to this family,” said Corbin, “It doesn’t matter, 43 years from now, we’re still going to work this case until it’s solved.”

If you have any information, which could help police you can call the homicide unit at 410-877-3943 or you can call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.