Inset: Messiah Harris (Marietta police). Background: The apartment complex in Marietta, Ga., where Messiah went missing and was later found dead (WSB/YouTube).
A Georgia man is accused of hiding a 2-year-old boy’s body in the woods behind their apartment complex and then reporting him missing after “a considerable amount of time.”
Dairon Keith, 23, is charged with concealing the death of another and making false statements to law enforcement in the death of Messiah Harris, Marietta police told Law&Crime in an email.
Keith, Messiah’s mother’s boyfriend, reported the boy missing around 2 p.m. on Friday from an apartment complex at 8 Ridge Run. Keith claimed Messiah was last seen about 30 minutes before calling 911. Cops recovered Messiah’s body about five hours later behind the apartment complex.
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The suspect allegedly made inconsistent statements that led police to believe he was lying. He’s accused of carrying Messiah’s body into the woods behind the complex and covering the remains under some dirt and loose vegetation.
“Preliminary indications are that his body had been in the woods for a considerable amount of time,” cops wrote.
A medical examiner is conducting an autopsy that will determine a cause and manner of death that could lead to additional charges. Cops did not mention Messiah’s mother in the press release.
Officers arrested Keith and took him to the Cobb County Jail, where he is being held without bond. His next court date is not listed.
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.
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