The decomposed body of a small child found inside of a duffel bag in Philadelphia has been identified as 4-year-old Damari Carter who went missing last year.
The gruesome discovery was made just before 10 a.m. on March 13 by a man doing work on a property in the 600 block of North 38th Street, Philadelphia police said in a release sent to Newsweek.
Police confirmed that the remains were identified through DNA testing to be Carter.
Despite no prior reports, the Special Victims Unit started investigating Carter's disappearance on Dec. 30 after receiving information from a media outlet regarding a missing child in the West Philadelphia area.
Police said during the investigation, various sources reported that the child's mother had allegedly informed family members the child was fatally struck by a car. Police found no evidence supporting this claim.
On Jan. 4, the child's 28-year-old Dominique Bailey was brought in for questioning by police about the remains of the child.
Bailey, and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Kevin Spencer, were then charged in the boy's death. They also face charges of tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and making false reports, police said.
The child's remains were found less than half a mile from where he lived with his mother and her boyfriend.
A Chicago-based organized, AIDBIPOC, which helps in missing persons cases featured Carter's disappearance on its website.
Newsweek reached out to AIDBIPOC for further comment about how they learned of Carter's case.
More than 450,000 children go missing in the U.S. each year, according to data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Jenna Sundel is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on breaking news. Jenna joined Newsweek ... Read more
