Damari Carter missing 4 year old Philadelphia boy confirmed to be child previously found stuffed dead in duffel bag following ongoing beatings and child abuse at the hands of his mother, Dominique Bailey and her boyfriend, Kevin Spencer who now face murder charges.
The body of a child found dead in a duffel bag in Philadelphia in March has been identified as that of a 4 year old boy who went missing in late December, more than a week before his mother and her boyfriend were charged in the boy’s suspected murder.
The investigation into Damari Carter’s disappearance began on December 30, after the the Special Victims Unit received a report that Carter had gone missing in West Philadelphia.
Where did missing 4 year old boy go? What were the boy’s mom & her boyfriend hiding?
Officials said Damari’s mother, 30-year-old Dominique Bailey, had told her family members that her son had been struck and killed by a car. Investigators didn’t find any evidence supporting that claim, however.
On Jan. 4, 2024, investigators found Bailey and brought her in for questioning. The next day, Bailey told police she was involved in her son’s death, according to investigators.
Police executed a search warrant that same day at a home on the 3800 block of Reno Street. They arrested 30-year-old Kevin Spencer, Bailey’s boyfriend – during the search and took him into custody according to NBC Philadelphia.
During questioning it was established the 4 year old had been subjected to ongoing child abuse and beatings. Nevertheless, the where aboouts of boy’s body remained unknown.
Both Bailey and Spencer were then charged with murder, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of children, criminal use of communication facility, abuse of corpse, false report and tampering with evidence. Damari remained missing, however.
Ongoing beatings and a home he could’ve gone to instead
Speaking to Action News at the time, Damari’s aunt, Nakia Bailey, told the outlet that her and the boy’s father last saw the boy on his birthday, November 25.
‘It didn’t have to happen. That baby was wanted. If not by her, by everyone else. His father wanted him,’ Nakia told the outlet.
Adding, ‘She was telling us that he was fine. Then, when she did say that he got hit by a car, she stopped contacting us, period.’
It wasn’t until March 18, that authorities obtained new clues as to the 4 year old’s whereabouts when workers with the Community Life Improvement Program were cleaning along the 600 block of North 38th Street in West Philadelphia’s Mantua neighborhood when they found a duffel bag. Inside the bag was the body of an unknown child.
It wasn’t until this week that authorities were able to conclusively determine that the remains of the child found were that of Damari Carter according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
‘I’m just glad that his remains were found,’ the boy’s aunt, Nakia Bailey, told reporters this week.
‘Because that was sitting not so well with any of the family, us not knowing where he was.
‘We’re still trying to wrap our heads around this situation happening at all,’ she said.
Philadelphia police said Damari’s mom allegedly confessed that she watched Spencer beat her son so badly on Dec. 7 that he lost consciousness with his eyes blackened and his forehead swollen, the Inquirer stated.
She allegedly said the beatings had happened before.
The boy according to the mother failed to regain consciousness, with Spencer then allegedly dumping the 4 year old’s body in a heap of trash.
A preliminary hearing for Bailey and Spencer is scheduled for June 18, 2024.
