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Police investigating the disappearance of a Hallandale Beach, Fla., boy last seen about 18 months ago have found remains that are consistent with an infant's, authorities said Friday.
Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy said it was too early to say whether the remains are those of Dontrell Melvin, who was 5 months old when he went missing around July 2011.
Flournoy said the missing person case has turned into a homicide investigation. Police are arranging for a specialist to further examine the remains, which were found in the backyard of a house where the parents once lived, in the 100 block of Northwest First Avenue in Hallandale Beach.
"We are investigating a homicide," Flournoy said. "Are the parents suspects? Yes."
The arrests of Calvin Melvin Jr., 27, and Brittney Sierra, 21, were announced by police earlier Friday, before the remains were found. The parents were held on child neglect charges after they allegedly admitted they failed to provide adequate care for the child, Flournoy said.
Each parent implicated the other in the child's disappearance, and police soon after went to the Hallandale Beach site to conduct a search with cadaver-sniffing dogs, Flournoy said.
“After lengthy interviews over the last 12 hours, they both have intimated that the child has been harmed in some way by each other,” Flournoy said. “So in essence, they are blaming each other as it relates to the child’s disappearance.”
Little Boy Has Been Missing Since July 2011: Hallandale Beach Police
Dontrell’s disappearance didn’t become known to authorities until Wednesday, when an investigator with the Broward County sheriff’s Child Protective Investigations Section spoke to Sierra regarding a child neglect case, according to Hallandale Beach police Maj. Thomas Honan.
Instead of finding three children at the home, the CPIS investigator saw that Dontrell was missing, Honan said.
Sierra then contacted Melvin, who told the investigator that the boy was with Melvin’s parents in Pompano Beach, Fla., police said.
But when the investigator went to verify the story, the boy’s grandparents said they hadn’t seen the boy in more than a year, Honan said. The investigator notified Hallandale Beach police, Honan said.
Though police questioned Melvin and Sierra, neither has said what happened to the boy. Sierra told police that if the boy disappeared and was harmed, then Melvin did it, Flournoy said. Melvin said the same thing about Sierra: If the child was harmed, Sierra did it, Flournoy added.
The police chief said that the parents individually described “an area of interest and concern” where police could search to determine whether “the child has been harmed.”
“The evidence has led us to believe that their conspiracy -- to hide the whereabouts of the child after the child was missing -- is apparent,” Flournoy said.
Before the remains were found Friday, Flournoy said an area had been identified by the parents.
By Friday afternoon, Hallandale Beach police cruisers were parked outside a home where residents said the parents used to live.
Several officers were seen there searching the grounds. Assisting were Broward Sheriff’s Office crime-scene specialists, as well as Miramar police cadaver dogs, Flournoy said.
The current tenant of the home, Natalie Garrido, said her Labrador retriever used to dig in the same spot where the remains were found Friday.
“He would always go back there to sniff in that area. And he would disappear there," she said. "I’m like what is he smelling back there? Nothing was ever sketchy to me.”
Double Homicide of Elderly Couple in Hallandale Beach: Police
Melvin previously told police that he had dropped off Dontrell at a Miami Gardens fire station in 2011, but “he has since recanted that story,” Flournoy said. “He said that that’s not true.”
Thursday, Melvin provided a different account of events, police said. Before the boy vanished in 2011, Melvin said he had gotten into a verbal argument with Sierra and left the residence, Flournoy said.
Melvin said when he returned to the residence weeks later, Sierra told him the boy was living with her parents out of state, the police chief said.
Melvin said that when he pressed Sierra for answers at the time, Sierra asked for his forgiveness and told Melvin that if he loved her, he should no longer ask about the boy, Flournoy said.
Meanwhile, Sierra told police that Melvin had taken the boy away from the home in July 2011, police said.
After the disappearance, it was clear from questioning the parents that no family member had the child and that the parents knew of no one who had the child since either July 2011 or August 2011, police said.
Additional relatives of the boy likely didn’t investigate the boy’s disappearance because they were assured he was OK, police said.
“Perhaps the parents were able to spin stories to different segments of the family, that they believed the child was possibly being taken care of by another segment of the family,” Flournoy said. “But they never connected or talked.”
The police chief said relatives probably thought financial hardships had led to the boy being elsewhere. “The family believed that if someone else was providing for the child, that it was a better situation for the child to be in,” Flournoy said.
In October 2012, Melvin and Sierra had a child-custody issue that led Hallandale Beach police to notify the state Department of Children and Families.
The child-custody case stemmed from the mother making “the assertion that the father is keeping the child away from her and not allowing her to see the child,” Flournoy said.
Police at the time told DCF that the family was having a child-custody issue and said they may require their services.
DCF Secretary David Wilkins said in a statement on Friday that DCF had last year “worked with the officer at that time regarding the police department’s ongoing investigation into a custody dispute between the two parents arrested today.”
Wilkins said DCF couldn’t discuss specifics, but replied that “’missing child cases and situations where a crime is alleged to have occurred remain under the investigatory authority of local law enforcement.”
DCF is working “very closely” with Hallandale Beach police and the Sheriff’s Office in the inquiry, Wilkins added.
Dontrell’s two siblings now are in the custody of DCF, Wilkins said. “We are providing them with the safety and security they need,” he said.
The boy's parents were taken to a Broward County jail on Friday and were expected to make their first court appearances as early as Saturday, Flournoy said.
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The perfect example of two trash/garbage families both white and black prevailing !!
Now the family including the God father are upset ?R U FU**ing kidding me ? None these fools from his or her family did anything about a child not being seen for 18 months ? They are as guilty..put them all down like sick dogs ! This kind of garbage does need to continue breeding !!!
ENOUGH ALREADY AMERICA ! WHATS WITH ALL THESE KIDS BEING MURDERED...AND ESPECIALLY IN FLORIDA !
This is just another case of 2 immature, subpar young lying parents, who never should have been together or allowed to have children; the nation is rife with similar cases everywhere.
It all sounds fishy to me. How could all the friends, relatives, and neighbors NOT know where the hell this kid was at? A little kid missing for this long, and no one has any idea of where the child is at, come on now! I don't even know my neighbors, and if one of their kids were missing, I'd know it. It sounds to me like everyone involved is just covering their own ass. Good luck with that.
I could imagine pulling it off if none of your families talked to one another. Where's your youngest kid? Oh he's at his grandparents, friends, etc. Although, 18 months is a long ass time to pull that off.
What the hell is the deal with Florida?!
Too many of the wrong people have children. It doesn't say if they were on welfare, but think if you are receiving benefits it should be required your on birth control
Florida definately has an issue with children, KEEP YOUR KIDS OUT OF THAT STATE...
Florida, Florida, Florida!!! Whats with this state? Child murders galore! Two young, dumb kids having kids. With the lack of motivation, and lack of education, this kind of @!$%# will continue to happen. He was 25, she was 19 when they hooked up, now they are two years older, but not wiser, and they had three kids in two years? Wow! That is proof possitive, you just can't fix stupid! From this story, neither one was working. How do you afford three kids with no job? Wellfare? If so, this system is clearly broken! One child to a non working couple should be the limit, till you find work. Until then, you should be on birth control, period!!!
It must have involved drugs? How else could a supposedly sane person, kill their own child? You would have to be out of your mind stoned, or just plain coldhearted? So sad, so sad!!!
R.I.P. Little one!!!
Please come quickly Good Lord as many will not be worthy including myself.
People the strength comes out the mouth and I must admit that all of you are Bullies and you all have no inner peace especially all who have gotten off the point to vent their own personal beliefs. How about speaking in the the third party you HATE MONGERS don't any of you know that youre not helping with your stupid posts as ignorance breeds ignorance and yes misery does love company.
Get a Heart as the majority of your reasonings are truly not benefitting anyone else but your same HATE. The answer is LOVE. Let it go, this has become a black white issue, take a long look in the mirror you cowards as you all know that you only know one feeling and thats SELFISHNESS. Only so many will be worthy as the NEW BEGINNING manifests into reality.
i dont want to be accused of racism by a bunch of liberal @!$%#s but i want to ask a question, but before i do i want to say that it is terrible ANY child dies. That being said i have noticed here in america some interesting things. First off white people when they see some guy dressed in a ripped tasmanian devil shirt, sporting a mullet and a budweiser hat, and chewing tobacco, have no problem calling that man a hick or white trash or something negative. And usually a person with that image starts talking and saying some backwards things. Now what i have noticed though is that in this country when a black dude acts stereotypically.....baggy pants hanging, underwear showing, gold tooth and afro with a comb on top (for real style), no white person will usually foment and get all riled up as they would some country bumpkin. Now that isnt the only thing ive noticed. Im gonna put this as nicely as possible and i dont want to hear "You're a racist!"i dont want to hear that because 1 im not racist 2 what i am talking about i have seen countless times so its not an opinion its reality. i just want a decent answer. Im from a town where all you see is white country women going after black men. In droves. Constantly. And no matter what a scumbag the man happens to be you had better not say anything. And it even goes in reverse where the worse the guy is the more he is made into a good guy by the liberals. now what i have seen a couple things. In my town those women 1 end up being pimped out in cheap motels 2 are beat or most commonly 3 become drug addicts with they guy. So my question is this "Over the years all of us have heard the same stories and seen the same stuff and yet nobody says anything and EVERYONE PROMOTES IT" When i read this article i said "go figure" and yet nobody else did. Everyone else played coy and said "what a shame for the baby" but JUST WOULD NOT bring up the type relationship it was. so my question is "why" Why the hell can you see a redneck and call him a redneck and yet when you see this it didnt pop into your mind anything that may be a little stereotypical but at least true. at least true to REALITY not the reality liberals want to make. so that is my question.Im not saying that white people dont kill there babies im saying with all the stories and reality of how this group treats that group why did most people not mention anything other than the few KKK @!$%#s saying the N word. Im not a racist @!$%# i just want to know why when in the news you constantly see and hear what goes on nobody thought anything about it. im sure i will get hate mail i wont bother reading it. And im not saying every interracial relationship ends up like this but where im from its always the same story and i just wanted a DECENT ANSWER as to why people wont tell it like it is and are always cowtowing around. maybe she killed her kid maybe he did in any case its a shame.
What impressed me the most is CPS did their job here. So many times the governing body is chided and persecuted mercilessly when things go haywire in domestic situations....Their job is a bottomless pit, and they cant be everywhere all the time. When a social worker is "on it" like this it renews my faith in the fact that there are people in the department that remain aware and alert...
They both knew their child was dead, regardless of who did it. I'm glad they've removed the 2 children while they're still alive. It's too bad they can't just be eradicated and sent to where they belong.
One more comment to add to my last is the point im getting at is i dont understand white woman creating a race that isnt there own, doesnt like them and blames them for everything, and doesnt look anything like her. The girls i see in my town have black children and the dad is gone and out having sex with a new white girl. I am not saying im AGAINST these relationships i just dont understand why number one and why its so important to promote them all the time number 2. I mean, when a 19 year old girl comes home and brings home billy the town redneck who drinks and lives in a shack...the parents flip out thinking. No. And the parents say because we dont want you to end up like him and like what we see in society. 3 years down the road you will be living in a trailer park getting beat and raising 3 kids with no money! but when these girls bring desean home with a comb in his fro they sit back and they know all the stories and all the realities and yet they sit back and dont say a word. that is the point im getting across not racism. im getting the point across that it is ok to judge a redneck for stereotypical actions that he portrays but not ok to judge a black man for stereotypical actions such as thug culture, drugs etc or whatever. So i dont want to hear the comments of what a racist i am i just dont get why in one instance when someone acts a certain way we get angry and in another instance we dont. im sure black parents wouldnt want their daughter with billy the redneck, and they are allowed to voice their concern and dont have to play PC.
I agree with Johnny. This is played out over and over again all accross this country.
NO, I'm pretty sure this is racism. Also, please, for the love of everything that is good and wholy - LEARN TO PUNCTUATE!
1) So so sad for the child. Never had a chance.
2) We are ALL racist to some extend, including me.
3) I personally have never seen anything good come from a white woman + black man relationship. But hey, it's not my business, so @!$%# it.
Hmm, but if this story were of two bad white parents, you'd be the first to say "white trash." Like so many other morons, you must think it's only racist if it's pointing out the trash of darker skins. Silly lib hypocrites.
I tell you what Johnny, Gravediggers and A. Gent Orange, why don't you ask the next white girl that you see with a black man why she is with him? Maybe you might learn something and can make intelligent comments in the future.
I don't know a mother alive that wouldn't give their life for their 5 month old child. These two are animals. They should be dealt with accordingly.
Ignorant, stupid, dum arses like this should be fixed to prevent any child bearing! And I'm sure they were still receiving tax payer goodies for this child.
They should both be removed from society for ever. And the family member that did not give a damn about this child, I hope you feel sick for a long time with guilt!
Rest in peace little angel!
Contrary to what the 'bible thumpers' would have you believe, not every child is a blessing. There are many many people who should NOT have children. My parents are a good example. There are evil people that should be extinguished before they can do their evil. Having children to perform their evil on is not a blessing.
Regardless of the quality of the parent, children dont deserve to endure what some have to. I wish you had a better childhood and hope if you have kids you provide them with the polar opposite of what it sounds like you had, I know i did with my kids.
Thanks Dave - I do have one child - and yes, I did/do give him the opposite of what I got. Its taken me almost 60yrs to unlearn the crap I was fed as a kid. Life is getting better.
Progressives cause this.
How so? Please explain.
People want to ban guns, why dont we ban trash from reproducing?
Agreed, Welfare moms and dead-beat dads should be sterilized by the state. Harsh, but necessary in a world with growing population and dwindling resources.
Simple - we dont ban trash from reproducing because of our silly superstitions! Every sperm and egg are sacred you know! We need to stop the with the fairy tales.
In my town the girls i knew would have black boyfriends and i knew them and they would be called "white bitches" every time they left the room. And yet you were never allowed to say anything negative about the relationship. someone in my family adopted two black children in a period of 3 years and they were both from different families. i think they are beautiful children and im glad they are adopted but think about this. the little girl they adopted was given up by her white mother because she was a drug addict and the black father was in prison. years down the road she adopts a black son. what is the story? same @!$%#ing thing. white woman on drugs and father skipped out! think about how common this is and the chances of this happening if it wasnt an everyday thing?! i mean for real! what are the chances of a couple wanting to adopt lets say an asian kid and the asian kid having an asian mother on drugs and a white father in prison? not very likely is it? well thats the point im trying to get across. Reality and the "stereotypes" are considered "racist" and yet all it is, is REALITY. if you dont like it change it but be liberal minded and try to say that it isnt real and that the media represents stories that arent true. In my town you cant go to 2 or 3 public places without seeing a white woman with black children, but guess what if you are lucky enough to even see the black guy he is a thug and usually you dont even get that "priviledge" because hes out of the picture. and yet mentioning these things is always racist . come on already
True, Unfortunately, the lib media and Hollywood are too cowardly to portray how people/situations really are. Hence the amusing, unrealistic films and shows and characters they plop on screen. Too bad the Oscars select what films fit their agenda, NOT what films are best.
totally agree. hollywood wants us to think that every potential black wife a white man might consider will look like and have hair like zoe saldana. well that's not true. 99% of them don't have hair at all. white men simply aren't attracted to that period! if you are, fine. but ultimately the biracial couples are a BAD IDEA. there are a lot of bad ideas in getting married, and kudos to the people who have the GUTS to stand up and say the truth.
You sir, are a realist.
P.S. What's your problem with liberals?
Dontrell Melvin? Yikes! What a terrible name. I guess the dad picked that one. LOL!
I agree,I have NEVER seen anything good come out of a black and white relationship.The child is always a bastard and the parents never stay together! The two races have nothing in common as in cultural history.
WOW, I guess that you know all the interracial black/white couples in the world and their personal situations. You must be god!
'realistic woman':
in order to correctly make a conclusion as a GENERALITY, you don't have to know "every" sample. you just have to have seen enough to get an "over 50%" type of empirical sense.
not every asian is a bad driver either. just a higher percentage of them than any other race.
stereotypes may offend people, but a good number of them are based in truth. they're not INTENDED to be "true 100% of the time", they're intended to be a generality - just like a study that says, if such-and-such is true, then such-and-such is 20% more likely to occur.....
we accept simple majority 'correlation' all the time. why stop at race.
The majority of the American caucasion women are some of the most intellectually challenged women in the world.Sorry but the truth hurts! They are a product of a dumbing down process that has been going on for years.Eastern women also know this and is so clear to the world. An African american woman is also smart enough to know the black mans GAME!