Days after Damari Carter celebrated his fourth birthday, he went missing. But before that, his mother, Dominique Bailey, moved out of her father’s apartment, in Philadelphia, and moved in with her boyfriend, Kevin Spencer.
Shortly after the move, on December 7, a downstairs neighbor “heard Damari screaming.” The boy was allegedly being beaten. It was the last time anyone reports hearing the toddler alive, reported People.
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Days after a neighbor heard Damari screaming, his mom's boyfriend was seen dragging a trash bag out of the apartment.
On that same December day, Bailey and Spencer were seen leaving the apartment. Damari was not with them, a police report obtained by People claims. Surveillance footage appears to show that the couple was gone for 24 minutes.
The following day, Spencer was seen “dragging a trash bag out of the house.” The case of Damari’s disappearance is now considered a homicide.
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Bailey told family and friends that Damari had been hit by a car.
Damari was mostly nonverbal. Family believe he had a learning disability but he had never been diagnosed. “He was starting to get the gist of talking,” Aiyana Parrish, Damari’s cousin, said per People. Damari was supposed to begin speech therapy, but he never got the chance to go.
The family became concerned about Damari’s well-being when Bailey allegedly told a former friend that Damari had been hit by a car and died. This friend felt Bailey sounded a little too calm in recounting the story, so she contacted Bailey’s father.
Meanwhile, Parrish, who was once in the military, started searching. She looked for local articles about traffic fatalities. There were none. Finding no evidence, Parrish, who lives in South Carolina, contacted the local ABC affiliate to report a missing child. Parrish told them they had not been able to get the attention of the police and that she could not file a missing person’s report because she was out of state.
Police claim no one ever reported Damari missing. The news outlet contacted the police, with a missing person poster made by a family member. That’s when the police began investigating.
Bailey told police that her son died after Spencer beat him.
When the police spoke to Bailey, the 28-year-old mother told them that she “did see Kevin Spencer beat Damari frequently and that on the day he went missing, Spence beat him so bad that his head was swollen and his eyes were blackened,” per the police report.
She confirmed that her son died shortly after the beating and that “she heard Spence put him in a trashcan.” However, the mother refused to tell police where her son’s body was located. Police obtained a search warrant for Spencer’s home. During that search, they arrested Spencer and took him in for questioning. He was charged that same day.
Damari's cousin claims he had a rough childhood.
Bailey and Spencer have each been charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child, abuse of a corps, and making false reports, People reported. Spencer is also charged with criminal conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
Parrish described Damari as "so sweet." "He just lit up the room any time he was in there. He was always smiling, laughing, dancing around," she said.
Despite his jovial personality, Parrish, who has a 4-year-child of her own, said Damari did not have an easy childhood. Bailey often got into arguments with family members she was living with. These disagreements, caused her to move Damari from Texas, his birth state, to Philadelphia in June 2023.
“He was never really allowed to enjoy being a kid,” Parrish said. She claimed that whenever Damari was hungry or upset, Bailey would claim he was “doing too much” and try to keep him locked away.
Police are still searching for Damari's body.
Police say they were unaware of any former abusive incidents involving Damari. Parrish claims Damari’s earlier years were more stable when he lived with his father. But after Bailey and the father divorced, Bailey took Damari and eventually cut off contact between the father and son. Damari’s dad was hoping to regain custody, Parrish told People.
In an interview with ABC 6, Darryle Carter Jr., Damari’s father, said, “For you to take him away from me, it really hurts.” Parrish believes Bailey only took Damari with her because she didn’t want to look like a bad mother for leaving her son with his father.
It is unclear if Bailey or Spencer have entered plea deals or have secured attorneys to represent them. According to police, Damari’s body has yet to be found. His family is praying for the chance to give him the funeral he deserves.
"I want to give him the respect that is due to him and his father, and our family," Damari’s aunt, Nakia Bailey, said.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
