Soldier and juvenile charged with kidnapping, murdering fellow serviceman

Authorities have charged a U.S. Army soldier and a 16-year-old boy with murdering a fellow soldier who was discovered shot useless in New Jersey.

The physique of 20-year-old Corporal Hayden Harris was found by police in a wooded space of Byram Township, New Jersey, on December 19.

Harris, of Guys, Tennessee, was final heard from as he headed from the Fort Drum base close to the Canadian border to Watertown, New York, for a automobile transaction, the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command stated.

In a information launch on Monday, Sussex County Prosecutor Francis A. Koch stated Specialist Jamaal Mellish and a 16-year-old boy, who was not recognized, have been charged in reference to Harris’s loss of life.

Investigators decided Harris and Mellish have been going to satisfy for a automobile transaction, the Byram Township Police Department stated.

Mellish was speculated to alternate a Ford Mustang with Harris for a Chevy pickup truck, in response to the police division.

Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller instructed the New Jersey Herald {that a} dispute might have led Mellish to abduct Harris.

According to the newspaper, Mellish pressured Harris to journey to his hometown of Brooklyn, New York earlier than driving him to New Jersey. Mueller stated investigators consider Mellish shot Harris useless in Byram Township. A juvenile was within the truck, he stated.

Mellish, 23, is chaired with first-degree homicide, first-degree kidnapping, felony homicide, possession of a firearm with out a allow, possession of a firearm for illegal functions and suppressing proof.

The juvenile is charged with first-degree kidnapping, felony homicide, possession of a handgun with out a allow and possession of a firearm for illegal functions.

Mellish is presently being held in navy custody beneath pretrial confinement in Oneida County, New York and the juvenile is in custody in a juvenile detention facility, Koch’s workplace stated.

Harris joined the Army in March 2019 and was an infantryman with the first Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. He joined the tenth Mountain Division at Fort Drum in July 2019 after coaching at Fort Benning, Georgia.

In his brief time with the Army, he earned the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

Harris was posthumously promoted from specialist to corporal and awarded the Army Commendation Medal.

“We are devastated,” Brigadier Gen. Brett Funck, appearing senior commander for Fort Drum and the tenth Mountain Division, stated in a press release. “His death is a tremendous loss for his loved ones, this division and our nation.”

In a press release on Christmas Eve, Byram Township police stated officers met with Harris’s household on December 22.

“We will forever be touched by the devastation this event has caused them,” the assertion stated. “Instead of planning for a joyful holiday season they are planning funeral services for their child. A child who chose an honorable path and who from all accounts was a caring young man already labeled as an outstanding soldier in a short period of time.”

It continued: “As a department we will maintain an unwavering commitment to this investigation until the perpetrators of this horrendous crime are brought to justice.”

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with data is requested to contact Lt. Nicholas Elmo on the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-383-1570 or Det. Robert Tierney on the Byram Township Police Department at 973-347-4008.