The Chicago Police Department (CPD) announced a break in the murder case of a child whose body parts were found floating in a city park pond in 2015. They have arrested a Rockford man now accused of the child’s murder.
Police arrested Kamel Harris, 41, for the death of two-year-old Kyrian Knox, whose remains were found in Garfield Park lagoon during Labor Day weekend in 2015.
Investigators say that Harris committed the murder because the lactose intolerant child was crying and would not stop after having a bad reaction to the milk he was fed. “He kind of just snapped and couldn’t deal with it anymore,” Chicago Police Commander Kevin Duffin said at a Tuesday news conference.
“We promised we’d never give up on him and we haven’t,” the CPD said of the year-long investigation into the death.
The Rockford resident was charged with first-degree murder, felony concealment of a homicidal death, and felony dismemberment of a human body.
At the time of the murder, the child’s mother, Lanisha Knox, was moving to another state and reportedly left the boy with Harris to care for while she moved. Harris was a family friend. Knox professed her satisfaction with the arrest of Harris and noted she was grateful that the CPD did not give up on solving the crime.
Harris initially reported that the boy had been kidnapped from his care, but eventually, investigators discovered remnants of the boy’s blood in the suspect’s car.
After finding the child’s body parts in the lagoon, Chicago Marine Unit Sgt. Angel Romero said the case was a tough one.
“It was pretty difficult to deal with,” Romero told the media. “Probably one of the most difficult things I’ve dealt with in my 29 years on the job.”
Police report that Harris has not cooperated with authorities investigating the case.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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