Dismembered 2-Year-Old Was Murdered For Crying From Milk Allergy
By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 16, 2016 4:07PM
A police officer searches along the shoreline of the lagoon in Garfield Park for evidence after body parts from a toddler were discovered in the water on September 9, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Chicago has seen more than its share of awful child murders in the recent past, but none seemed to strike a nerve more than the death of Kyrian Knox, the two-year-old boy whose decapitated remains were discovered more than a year ago in a Garfield Park lagoon. Police on Tuesday evening at last announced the arrest and charge of a suspect, Rockford man Kamel Harris, in the boy’s murder; and the circumstances of Knox’s death are beyond chilling.
Harris, 41, allegedly killed the toddler because he cried for an extended time after ingesting milk. The boy was lactose intolerant.
“The baby apparently ingested some milk, and the baby was lactose intolerant and kept crying all afternoon,” Chicago Police Cmdr. Kevin Duffin said at a press conference near the Garfield Park recovery site on Tuesday evening, the Sun -Times reports. Harris “kind of just snapped.”
“It was pretty difficult to deal with,” Marine Unit diver Angel Romero said, according to the Tribune. “Probably one of the most difficult things I've dealt with in my 29 years on the job.”
Police found blood in Harris’ vehicle last year, which reportedly helped break the case.
Harris was formally charged with murder, concealment of a homicide and dismemberment of a body, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi announced on Tuesday evening.
FORMALLY CHARGED: 41 yo Kamel Harris is the barbaric monster charged with murder, concealing a homicide & dismembering 2 yo Kyrian Knox. pic.twitter.com/C3ZY8ByKSl
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) November 16, 2016
Ahead of the press conference, Guglielmi on Tuesday made public that an arrest had been made.
We promised we'd never give up on him and we havent. CPD detectives made an arrest in the murder & decapitation of 2 yr old Kyrian Knox pic.twitter.com/i7Ivyocdd2
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) November 15, 2016
The child’s remains were discovered on Sept. 5, 2015, but authorities struggled for several weeks to identify the boy.
Kyrian's mother, Lanisha Knox, said last year that she left Kyrian in Rockford while she moved for work to Cedar Rapids, IA. Kamel Harris, who was watching the boy, told authorities last year that he handed the child over to a group of people he didn't know but was granted permission by Knox over the phone. Police on Tuesday said they believe Harris brought Knox's remains to the lagoon because he had relatives that lived nearby.