Body found in duffel bag in Philadelphia identified as 4-year-old reported missing in December

The body of a child found inside a duffel bag in Philadelphia in March has been identified as that of missing 4-year-old Damari Carter, authorities said.

Officers were responding to a property in the city's Mantua neighborhood on March 13 when a man who was working there directed them to a duffel bag that contained the "severely decomposed" remains of a child, the Philadelphia Police Department said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY.

Officers were unable to discern the gender or age of the child and the body was taken to the medical examiner's office for identification.

According to police, they received confirmation from the criminalistics lab on April 3 that the body belonged to Damari.

Philadelphia police said its special victims unit initiated an investigation on Dec. 30, 2023, following information received from a media outlet regarding a missing child in the West Philadelphia area.

During the investigation, police said, various sources said the child's mother, Dominique Bailey, 28, informed family members Damari had been fatally struck by a vehicle. However, investigators found no evidence to corroborate this claim.

Police brought Bailey in for questioning on Jan. 4 and executed a search of her residence the next day, where a male individual was arrested and questioned. The man was identified as Bailey's boyfriend, Kevin Spencer, 30.

Police said Bailey "provided information on her involvement in the death" of Damari on Jan. 5, however she did not disclose what she and Spencer had done to his body. Bailey and Spencer face charges including murder and endangering the welfare of a child, among others.

Police said Bailey ultimately confessed to watching Spencer beat her son to the point that he lost consciousness and his forehead was swollen on Dec. 7, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Bailey told police that after realizing the child was dead, she and Spencer placed the boy's remains in a trash bag and disposed of them.

According to the Inquirer, police spent days searching the area for Damari's body but had no success, and they ultimately believed his body had been lost in the city's trash system, never to be found.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Damari Carter: Body of missing boy found in duffel bag in Philadelphia