What to Know
Georgia police responded to a report of a missing child at a Marietta apartment complex just after 2 p.m. on August 7, 2026. Just weeks ahead of his third birthday, Messiah Harris reportedly disappeared that afternoon while in the care of his mother’s boyfriend, Dairon Keith. Within hours, Marietta Police located Messiah’s body in a wooded area not far from the apartment complex. Law enforcement realized early on that something was very wrong with Keith’s story.
They ultimately arrested the 23-year-old, who allegedly took Messiah into the woods and covered his body with dirt. Keith now faces charges of concealing the death of another and making false statements to law enforcement.
Keith allegedly called the police to report Messiah missing.
Per a news release posted on Facebook, Keith called police to report Messiah missing around 1:30 p.m. on August 7. He claimed the child had on blue and white striped pajamas when he disappeared. Just before 9 p.m., police confirmed they’d found Messiah’s body in a wooded area. The news shocked neighbors.
“It just — it just broke me. It broke me. I could not sleep at all last night because I was just thinking about the little boy and the conflicting stories that we’re being told,” a neighbor told Atlanta News First.
Messiah apparently didn’t just disappear.
Per a news release obtained by People, police stated Messiah’s body “had been in the woods a considerable amount of time.”
A neighbor told Atlanta News First they noticed a strange odor coming from the woods near the apartment complex before they discovered the child’s body.
“It’s a pretty good neighborhood, and it’s very quiet, so I’m very sick to my stomach. And it has been a huge, very lingering scent over here that I’ve been smelling. I felt like it smelt like death. I know what death smells like. So, I said to myself, ‘this is not manure or just them hitting a sewer line over there. This is something bigger.’ And they literally came over here and, in the investigation, they found that body right up there where I have been smelling that at,” the neighbor claimed.
Loved ones created a GoFundMe for Messiah’s parents.
Nebula Holman shared the fundraiser in hopes of easing the family’s financial burden.
“I am creating this fundraiser for Messiah Harris’s parents, my close family, as they face the sudden and heartbreaking loss of their sweet 2-year-old son. Our entire family is devastated, and there are no words that can truly capture the pain of losing a child. Messiah was deeply loved, and his life touched everyone around him,” Holman wrote. “His mother and father are now carrying a grief no parent should ever have to endure, and during this unimaginable time, I want to help give them the space to mourn without the added weight of daily financial stress.”
Keith could face additional charges.
Per CBS News, authorities have not released Messiah’s exact cause of death pending an autopsy. They arrested Keith and booked him in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where a judge ordered him held without bond. He could face additional charges pending the autopsy results.
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