WHAT HAPPENED?

Mother, Siblings Charged After 6-Year-Old Boy Found Dead

The body of Damari Perry was found near an abandoned house in Gary, Indiana, after his family claimed he disappeared from a party.

The mother of a 6-year-old North Chicago boy who was found dead in Gary, Indiana, early Saturday has been charged with first-degree murder, and two of his siblings have been charged in his death as well, prosecutors announced.

Damari Perry was the subject of frantic search efforts after authorities said he vanished “under unusual circumstances,” with his family claiming he had gone missing with mysterious strangers while attending a party with his 16-year-old sister.

But by Saturday, the search took a grim turn after the FBI and North Chicago Police Department discovered his body near an abandoned house in Gary, Indiana. Hours later, the Lake County State’s Attorney announced charges against the mother and two of the boy’s siblings, saying the story about Perry disappearing at a party in Skokie, Illinois, was “completely false.”

“Our hearts ache over the murder of 6-year-old Damari Perry. We would not have reached the awful truth of this case without the work of the FBI, the North Chicago Police Department, and the investigators and staff at the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a press release.

Perry’s mother, Jannie Perry, faces a first-degree homicide charge in addition to obstructing justice and concealment of a homicidal death. Jeremiah Perry, the boy’s 20-year-old brother, is charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to a child under 12, concealing a homicidal death, and obstructing justice, and a juvenile sibling who has not been named also faces charges, authorities said.

The 6-year-old was reported missing on Wednesday evening, with family claiming the last time he had been seen was a day earlier at about 3:00 p.m. in Skokie, where his mother claimed he had last been seen with two mysterious strangers.

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The Skokie Police Department said a day before Perry’s remains were found that “there is no credible information to confirm Damari L. Perry was last seen in the Skokie area.”

Damari’s mother was quoted telling Fox 32 at that time that Damari was out with his sister for a “play date.”

“She had a cocktail. I guess someone put something in her drink. She ended up falling asleep. When she woke up, my son was gone. When she questioned the girl about where my son was the girl said she didn’t know,” Perry said.

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