Missing SC girl presumed dead and her parents have been arrested, sheriff says
A 4-year-old girl who was reported missing in Aiken June 30 and has been the subject of a massive search by local, state and national authorities is now presumed dead, and her parents have been arrested in connection, law enforcement says.
Aiken County Sheriff Marty Sawyer said in a July 4 press conference that law enforcement’s investigation and evidence in the disappearance of Javeayah Harris, 4, leads authorities to believe that the child is deceased, possibly for as long as a month.
“It’s the outcome we all feared, and sadly, it’s the outcome we must face,” Sawyer said. “We’ll have to face it together as a community.”
The sheriff said a search for Javeayah Harris’ body is continuing, and that “massive law enforcement resources” are being used to recover the 4-year-old. Sawyer said Saturday that authorities were now searching an area “not in Aiken County.”
Sawyer said at Saturday’s press conference that Javeayah’s parents — father Johmarea Harris, 23, and mother Michilae Herring, 22 — have been charged with homicide by child abuse and filing a false police report. The sheriff said additional charges could be forthcoming.
The FBI’s Columbia field office also shared the news Saturday that Javeayah’s parents had been arrested.
Javeayah Harris was reported missing to law enforcement on June 30. In the days since, local and state authorities and the FBI have been conducting a sweeping search for the 4-year-old.
Sawyer said Saturday that investigators now believe the child may actually have been dead for some time before she was initially reported missing.
“We put every resource available to find Javeayah and bring her home safely,” Sawyer said. “Sadly, the night of the 911 call on June 30, when that call was made, it was already too late to save Javeayah. At this time, our investigation supports that she had been deceased for at least a month.”
Kevin Moore, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Columbia field office, said on Saturday that the bureau has been working with local authorities for days on the Harris case.
“Today a family and this community are hurting from this tragedy, the loss of 4-year-old Javeayah,” Moore said. “We want to offer our sincere condolences to Javeayah’s loved ones and to this community. The men and women of the FBI have been in Aiken County since the beginning, working with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and our law enforcement partners.
“With the information we had at the time, we put every resource into finding Javeayah. That includes dozens of FBI personnel who were part of the searches.”
This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 12:35 PM.
