THE remains of a missing four-year-old girl have been found in a creek days after her parents were arrested and charged with homicide.

The parents of Javeayah Kemauni Harris dissolved her body with chemicals before pouring it into a creek in a “deliberate” attempt to hide evidence of a crime, officials alleged.

Javeayah Harris was reported missing in South Carolina on July 1 and was found dead over a week later

Michilae Herring, Javeayah’s mother, was arrested and charged with homicide by child abuse before her daughter’s remains were identified

The FBI, drones and helicopters were called in to help the massive search response for Javeayah after her mother said she disappeared from her home in Aiken County, South Carolina on July 1, but officials later alleged that was not the case.

Authorities found “a few” human remains in the area around the Cedar Creek Reservoir and were able to positively identify them as Javeayah through DNA analysis, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday.

Deputies believe the four-year-old died around a month before her mother reported her missing.

Her parents, Michilae Herring, 22, and Johmarea Harris, 23, were previously arrested and charged with homicide by child abuse before Javeayah’s remains were identified.

“Extensive and deliberate efforts were made to destroy and conceal evidence following Javeayah’s death,” said Aiken County Sheriff Marty Sawyer.

“Our information revealed the use of corrosive chemicals and other tools that were used to accelerate the destruction of her little body.

“After this was completed, these two individuals poured what remains were left of Javeayah into the Cedar Creek Reservoir.”

Officials don’t believe they will recover any more of Javeayah’s remains.

Herring later allegedly admitted to disposing of her daughter’s body after failing to seek medical care despite knowing Javeayah was physically abused, according to arrest warrants obtained by ABC affiliate TNND.

Officials alleged that Harris knew about the abuse and also failed to seek treatment for the child.

The abuse, which was allegedly inflicted on Javeayah by the mother, happened some time between May 1 and June 15, 2026, according to WYFF.

Additional charges have been filed against the girl’s parents, including destruction and desecration of human remains.

Officials found “a few” remains in a creek and identified them as Javeayah

Johmarea Harris, the girl’s father, was arrested alongside the mother

Additional charges have been brought against Michilae Herring (pictured) and Harris

Officials believe the four-year-old was dead for a month before her parents reported her missing

“Personally, there are some very harsh words that I would like to use about Johmarea and Michilae and their actions,” the sheriff said.

“But I will not do that. And I will not do that to protect and maintain the integrity of this case.

“But I will tell you this, I will not refer to them as mom and dad or mother or father. They don’t deserve that title.”

Sawyer said the case was one of the most “deeply disturbing and emotionally taxing” investigations that the sheriff’s office has ever worked.

A 911 call was released on Monday where Herring reported her daughter was missing.

“She was outside playing, and I came out here after cooking dinner a little bit, and I’m looking for her, but I don’t see her nowhere,” she said.

Both Harris and Herring were also facing charges for filing a false police report.

“While today marks a painful chapter in this case it does not mark the end,” Sawyer said, adding that the sheriff’s office will continue to seek justice in the case.

Neighbors told WYFF that they feared the worst when they heard Javeayah vanished.

“She did something to the baby, that was my first thought,” one woman said.

“Any time I went to get her, she was in a room, on the floor; she was locked up, on a mattress, urinated all over it, she was dirty and unfed.”

The neighbor said the abuse was reported but neighbors became increasingly concerned about the girl’s well-being after the family moved out of an apartment complex in Union County.

In the 911 call, Herring said she and her husband had just recently bought their home in Aiken County, which is over 100 miles south of Union County.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/16662728/javeayah-harris-missing-girl-remains-found-south-carolina/