CHICAGO, Nov. 16 (UPI) — Chicago police on Tuesday said they arrested a man on charges he killed a lactose-intolerant 2-year-old boy after he cried for hours from stomach pain from drinking milk.
Kamel Harris was arrested on charges he murdered Kyrian Knox last year based on blood recovered from the man’s car determined to have come from Kyrian, more than a year after the toddler’s dismembered body was found floating in a lagoon.
“It was pretty difficult to deal with,” said Chicago Police Sgt. Angel Romero, a member of the department’s dive team who was involved with the search for the boy last September. “Probably one of the most difficult things I’ve had to deal with in my 29 years on the job.”
Harris was watching the child, and another, last September for their mothers, according to police, when the incident happened. Kyrian ingested milk, which he is allergic to, and cried during most of the afternoon because of stomach pain caused by the milk.
At some point, police say, Harris snapped and killed the toddler. He then falsely reported the boy was missing — and said Kyrian may have been missing since at least a month earlier.
In September, Chicago police investigated reports of a foot floating in Garfield Park Lagoon. Romero said divers found another foot and two hands on a shoreline of the lagoon, and found a head the day after.
Police later found blood inside of Harris’ vehicle and, despite denying Kyrian was ever in his car, the blood proved to match the boy’s DNA in testing conducted in August.
Police said it took several months to determine what happened to Kyrian; the mothers of both children were not cooperative. They charged Harris Tuesday with first-degree murder, felony concealment of a homicidal death and felony dismemberment of a human body.
“As a father of a 6-month-old myself, it’s hard to fathom why someone would do this to a child,” said Jason Ervin, an alderman of Chicago’s 28th Ward, where the park is located. “But we are glad that this is the first step in bringing this case to justice.”
