MARIETTA, Ga. — Marietta police said they have arrested the mother’s boyfriend in connection with the 2-year-old reported missing from a Marietta apartment on Friday.
Police said Dairon Keith of Kennesaw was the 911 caller who reported Messiah Keith missing. They accuse him of making false statements to Cobb County 911 and responding officers.
Keith allegedly put Messiah’s body in the woods behind the apartment complex and loosely covered the body with dirt and vegetation, police said.
Keith is charged with two felonies, concealing the death and making false statements.
Keith reported Messiah missing just before 2 p.m. Friday. Messiah’s body was found at around 7:20 p.m.
Police say they worked throughout the night on this case, and they are continuing to investigate the child’s death.
Channel 2’s Bryan Mims talked to neighbors this morning in the wake of the child going missing and being found dead in the woods behind the apartment complex Friday.
Matt Ducre lives next door and said Messiah lived with his mother and her boyfriend and a couple of other small children. He said he last saw the child Thursday evening with the boyfriend.
“He was holding him and saying he was fixing to be three,” Ducre said.
Marietta police spokesperson Chuck McPhilamy said early indications are that the child’s “body had been in the woods a considerable amount of time” and was likely dead before the caregiver called 911.
This is a breaking news story.
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