Inset: Messiah Harris (Marietta Police). Background: The Marietta, Georgia, apartment complex where Messiah was reported missing before his body was discovered (WSB/YouTube).
A Georgia man is facing criminal charges after authorities say he concealed the body of a 2-year-old boy in a wooded area behind their apartment complex, then waited “a considerable amount of time” before calling police to report the child missing.
Dairon Keith, 23, has been charged with concealing the death of another person and making false statements to law enforcement in connection with the death of Messiah Harris, Marietta police confirmed to Law&Crime in an email.
Keith, who police identified as the boyfriend of Messiah’s mother, contacted authorities around 2 p.m. Friday from an apartment complex located at 8 Ridge Run in Marietta. He allegedly told investigators the toddler had last been seen roughly 30 minutes before the 911 call. About five hours later, officers found Messiah’s body behind the apartment complex.
Investigators said Keith gave conflicting accounts during the missing child investigation, raising suspicions that he was not being truthful. Police allege he carried Messiah’s body into the woods behind the property and attempted to cover the remains with dirt and loose vegetation.
“Preliminary indications are that his body had been in the woods for a considerable amount of time,” police said.
The medical examiner is now performing an autopsy to determine Messiah’s cause and manner of death, findings that could result in additional charges. Police did not reference Messiah’s mother in the release announcing Keith’s arrest.
Keith was taken into custody and booked into the Cobb County Jail, where he remains held without bond. Court records did not list his next scheduled hearing.
Messiah was just weeks away from his third birthday. He lived in the apartment complex with his mother, her boyfriend and other siblings, next-door neighbor Matt Ducre told local ABC affiliate WSB. Ducre said he remembered last seeing Messiah in Keith’s arms.
“He was holding him and saying he was fixing to be three,” Ducre said.
The post 2-year-old boy was dead for a ‘considerable amount of time’ before mom’s boyfriend reported him missing, cops say first appeared on Law & Crime.
