CARNEL CHAMBERLAIN - 4 yo/ Convicted: Mother's BF: Anthony Bennett - Mount Pleasant MI

Readers: I have moved this story back to the MURDERED topic from UNRESOLVED.
It was moved in error. The only thing, in my mind, that remains unresolved is the placing of additional charges on the abusing boyfriend.
UNRESOLVED is the NewsRoom that is for cases that have ambiguity in the cause of death or suspicions regarding same. You may also find unidentified victims there as well.

kiwimom wrote:Man charged with assaulting Mich. boy found dead

Jun 30, 2012 1:04 PM

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) - A 20-year-old man was charged Friday with beating and dragging a 4-year-old just weeks before the child's body was found under the porch of his mother's home in mid-Michigan.

While Anthony Bennett was not charged in the death of Carnel Chamberlain on Friday, family members say he was the last person to see Carnel before his disappearance June 21. A weeklong, seemingly fruitless search of woods and ponds around the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe reservation ended at the child's home Thursday.

**snipped**

Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/18913298/boy-4-found-dead-under-home-on-mich-reservation#ixzz1zEdCPpCM

Just a matter of time. Seems LE is always waiting for every damn T to be crossed and I to be dotted before charging anyone.

I agree MinIl! It's usually not the cops as much as it is the DA.
They want a slam dunk, in b-ball parlance.
Like you say, he's already cooling his heels in the hoosegow.
They don't have to search any farther to find the perp...just add some lines to his charging warrant.

NG: New info emerges about slain 4-year-old boy

NG speaks with Jaimee Chamberlain

http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/06/28/cops-new-info-emerges-search-carnel

kiwimom wrote:A very sad but predictable outcome. I felt I had to comment about the fact that it took a week to find him and he was under the deck of their house??
Surely a cadaver dog would have found him in a second? They looked under there and didn't see him or a grave?
Sounds like shoddy police work and makes me wonder if some of the other missing toddlers in other cases are right under everyone's feet too!
They are usually 'somewhere close'

A glance would have revealed a fresh grave.

Almost always someone close.

Immediate family or boyfriend of mother is the usual outcome.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:I agree MinIl! It's usually not the cops as much as it is the DA.
They want a slam dunk, in b-ball parlance.
Like you say, he's already cooling his heels in the hoosegow.
They don't have to search any farther to find the perp...just add some lines to his charging warrant.

He has tats on his face and NECK.

Mother's boyfriend arrested over boy, four whose burned body was found under porch of family home

• Body of Carnel Chamberlain, 4, missing since June 21 discovered on Thursday
  
• Anthony Bennett, mother's boyfriend, accused of abusing child
  
• Neighbours had reported a smokey smell coming from home the day Carnel vanished
  
  

By Nina Golgowski

PUBLISHED: 19:41 EST, 29 June 2012

UPDATED: 20:19 EST, 29 June 2012

An arrest has been made in the death of a 4-year-old boy whose body was found badly burned and buried beneath his mother's porch on a Michigan Indian Tribe reservation on Thursday.

Anthony Bennett, the boyfriend of Carnel Chamberlain's mother, has been charged with beating and dragging the Saginaw Chippewa Indian boy weeks before his death, but not in his murder.

Described as a 'wannabe thug,' family members say Bennett, 20, was the last person to see Carnel of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe before his disappearance on June 21.


Assault: Anthony Bennett, 20, has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend's 4-year-old son who was found dead after missing since June 21

Bennett has a long history of trouble with the law, bouncing in and out of prison according to WOOD-TV.

According to one woman who had previously lived with him, he once killed and burned her granddaughter’s dog.

'We slowly found out he wasn't a good person,' Violet Green who says she knew Bennett for five years told WOOD-TV.

On Friday Bennett faced a charge of assault resulting in substantial bodily injury to a child under 16.

He was sent back to jail after the brief hearing in federal court in Bay City to await a detention hearing next week.



Tragic discovery: The body of 4-year-old Carnel Chamberlain of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe was found on Thursday beneath his mother's porch


Grave: Following an extensive search of the boy's tribal reservation cadaver dogs found him buried beneath this home's porch

Federal prosecutors, who handle major crimes on Indian reservations, do not want him released on bond but would not comment when asked if Bennett was being charged with assault as a way of holding him until a more serious charge is brought.

The boy's mother, 21-year-old Jaimee Chamberlain, has said Bennett was in charge of watching Carnel while she was at work. When she returned, the boy was gone and according to police Bennett was uncooperative.

According to a family spokesman and the tribe's former chief, Jaimee's cousin Kevin Chamberlain said Bennett had been in her life for about seven months.


Criminal past: Bennett, who early into the investigation was not cooperating with search efforts, has a lengthy criminal record and once set a dog on fire according to one woman

He said the family believed Bennett had a 'troubled past' and that he came off as 'a kind of wannabe thug.'

'We have no choice but to believe he had something to do with it,' Kevin Chamberlain said of Carnel's death. 'All eyes and arrows point right to him.'

'Who sets somebody on fire?' Ms Green responded to the child's body's condition, described as 'very badly burned' according to police.

'I want to know, did that boy suffer? Did he set him on fire alive or did he beat him first and then set him on fire?'


Abuse:
Carnel, seen in his most recent photo, had been abused by Bennett for some time before his arrest on Friday according to the mother

Gather reports neighbours saying they smelled a smokey 'barbecue-like smell' coming from the area of the home the night the boy disappeared.

According to the two-page criminal complaint, the boy had knowingly been abused by Bennett for some time before his death but it wasn't reported.

Jaimee Chamberlain told the FBI that in late May or early June she saw her son with a bruised and swollen face as well as a cut lip.

She said her son had been struck by Bennett when she was away from the home.

A few days later, she said she saw Bennett pick up her son by the neck and drop him before dragging him into a room by his foot, according to the court document.


Never gave up: A K-9 search and rescue team is seen during the exhausting search that ended on Thursday with the boy's discovery and boyfriend's following arrest

It wasn't known why Jaimee Chamberlain allowed her son to be in her boyfriend's company if she believed he was abusing the boy. She answered her phone when contacted by The Associated Press but hung up without commenting.

Bennett did not appear with a lawyer Friday but suggested he might hire one. Authorities declined to comment outside the courtroom.

The courtroom Friday was full of people who were there to support Carnel and his mother.

'I'm here for Carnel. I am Carnel,' grandmother Joann Chamberlain said.

A tribal police car sat outside the family's house, not far from the headquarters of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe and the tribe's financial lifeblood, the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort.


Future charges: Prosecutors declined to say whether they wished to hold Bennett without bond until a more serious charge is brought against him

People were leaving flowers and items of remembrance for the little boy at the home. At midday, a man got out of a vehicle and placed a stuffed animal on the fence before hopping back in and driving away.

'Nothing this monumentally horrific has ever happened in our community,' Kevin Chamberlain said. 'Right now, it's a very sombre place with a lot of broken hearts.'

Carnel's great-aunt, Esther Chatfield, 58, lives next door to the home. She said she and her husband became Jaimee Chamberlain's foster parents when Chamberlain was 8-years-old.

'My husband and I are just destroyed by this,' Chatfield said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2166807/Anthony-Bennett-suspected-killing-year-old-Carnel-Chamberlain-burying-mothers-porch-charged-assault.html#ixzz1zHbjKHXe

After seeing these pics I am even more puzzled as to why it took so long to find this beautiful precious baby.

Another POS boyfriend. Another POS mother. Another dead baby.

i cant figure out how this little boy was overlooked when the home was being searched. im not trying to blame anyone for the oversight, just trying to understand. also doesnt a dead body start emitting a distinctive odor shortly after death? i dont know, but something about this case feels different than the others. usually im on my soapbox by now about arresting the mother.

Keep in mind that this happened on sovereign land- an Indian Reservation.
The Feds do have jurisdiction in cases like this but primarily it's the Tribal Police who are responsible for law and order.
Culturally, there is still a big chasm between The Native Americans and the Palefaces. Similar to the Hassidic Jewish Community or other societal offshoots they like to handle things on their own.
The body was burned, then buried. This would, I believe, eliminate some of the decomp smell that was so prevalent in the Anthony's Sunfire.
It's possible that the Tribal cops knew who the perp was but were keeping things on the down low so they could deal with him.
Looking at the perp's pic is quite unnerving. I believe that the neck tat says "Joker" in a graffiti sort of style. I have said many times here that the first thing I think of when I see a neck tat is a felon. He will be charged and adjudged by White man law. Not such a big joke anymore are you, Chief Asshat?

thank you, tom. i didnt realize this difference in tribal law and civilian. i in no way meant to sound disrespectful towards law enforcement. i would really like to say at this to you and the others that are responsible and contribute to this site-i would u guys had no reason to have this site, but since there is such a tremendous need for it, i want to thank u all for speaking up for these children and keeping their names in the public eye. i cant find the right words. but u get the actual stories out here and even voice ur own personal thoughts, feeling, predictions which in imo makes the site more human. i hope u guys never give up fighting for the children. thank u again for everything u do.
p.s. when i first saw the pic of the bf, all i could see was those tattoos and immediately thought, too much ink in the bloodstream....again. lol

Thanks for your kind thoughts flash.
As we are on the verge of having to remember that horrible verdict from The Pinellas Clueless one year ago I am personally more committed than ever.
We have yet to see justice for the little girl who was the impetus for our efforts after she went missing. Nobody has been found guilty of Caylee's murder nor paid for their crime.
As I write this, the Today show is about to review the "verdict" and what SnackCakes life has been since then. She wanted a "Bella Vita". She felt that her life and happiness was more important than that of her daughter. I hope and pray that the rest of her days on this earth are "Miserabile vita".

What I never understand is the mom.... how did she repeatedly leave her baby with this man? If anyone ever picked up my babies by their neck, or punched them, or whatever, OMG I don't know what I would do, but just standing by and watching and then allowing them to babysit again would NOT be one of my actions!

we have seen this over and over. it blows my mind. i wouldve lifted him up by the neck, but it seems like these women r more concerned with bedroom comforts than with the well being of their children.

You said it well flasher!
I would be willing to bet that more than 90% are also the breadwinners in the family.
How many times to do we have to read about a boyfriend or step-dad left home
watching the children while Mom is at work.
I was born in the wrong era. Men should be providers and protectors,
not lazy bums who sit on the front porch drinking a 40 ouncer and
waving goodbye to the woman who is trudging off to work.

(OMG, I hope I didn't get too with that...)
It's not anti-feminist if you consider it. It's pro-female in every way.
Women should be encouraged to enjoy the pursuit of whatever interests they choose,
but not support a loser.

i must have come from the same generation. i feel the same but i dont talk about it because ive been called lazy, self entitled, a feminist, etc. because of it. its nice to see that there is someone out there with the same views on this particular subject. thanks for being man enough to say it.

thanks for being man enough to say it

---We need more Mayberry and less Jersey Shore; if you get my drift.

got it!!

Courthouse roundup: Man due in federal court on charges of assaulting boy

By Kelly Dame
Posted: Monday, July 9, 2012 9:45 am
Updated: 10:28 am, Mon Jul 9, 2012.

The 20-year-old Isabella County man charged in connection with the assault on 4-year-old Carnel Chamberlain, who was reported missing and found dead in June, is due in federal court this Friday.

Anthony Michael Bennett is accused of assaulting Chamberlain multiple times, states an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Steven T. Flattery. The document, filed in the U.S. District Court in Bay City, states Chamberlain’s mother saw Bennett, her boyfriend at the time, pick her son up by his neck and drop him, then pull him by one foot approximately 15 feet through her home. Bennett also told the boy’s mother he had struck the boy. Chamberlain suffered bruises to his face and ribcage, and a cut on the inside of his lip, and later told his mother that Bennett had punched him.

The case, listing a charge of assault resulting in substantial bodily injury to a child under 16, was filed in the federal court because felony crimes committed on reservations fall under federal law enforcement jurisdiction. Bennett remains in custody.

Chamberlain was reported missing on June 21, and searchers were called off after his body was recovered a week later. During the search, Bennett was cited as a person of interest and did not cooperate with investigators. No charges have been filed in connection with Chamberlain’s death and that investigation continues.

Bennett’s adult criminal history includes convictions of assault and battery, malicious destruction of property, family violence, multiple traffic offenses, two counts of resisting and obstructing police, two counts of violence to a police officer, disorderly conduct, malicious mischief and multiple probation violations including drug use.

Bennett is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for a preliminary examination in the case.

http://www.ourmidland.com/police_and_courts/article_5452d122-c9bd-11e1-b5a9-0019bb2963f4.html

Family: Mom of slain boy not on the run

Posted: Jul 09, 2012 12:59 PM CDT
Updated: Jul 09, 2012 1:50 PM CDT
By Tom Plahutnik, Web Editor/Producer

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI (WNEM) -

Family members now say the mother of Carnel Chamberlain is not on the run or hiding from police.

Family members recently said that 21-year-old Jaimee Chamberlain hadn't been seen lately.

She's the mother of 4-year-old Carnel, the young boy whose charred remains were found underneath the porch of his home where he lived with his mother on the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Reservation near Mount Pleasant.

According to the Saginaw News, Jaimee's sister says she is working side-by-side with the FBI during their investigation.

Jaimee's boyfriend, 20-year-old Anthony Bennett, faces charges of abuse. He also lived with Jaimee and Carnel at the house where the boy's badly burned body was discovered. Carnel was in the care of Bennett when he was last seen two weeks ago.

Right now Bennett is being held in the Bay County Jail without bond.

Currently Bennett is not facing any charges in connection with Carnel's death.

Carnel's family has scheduled a memorial service for the boy this coming Sunday, July 15, at the Soaring Eagle Casino concert hall.

WNEM.com and TV5 will be updating this story as we learn more information.

http://www.wnem.com/story/18982261/family-mom-of-slain-boy-not-on-the-run

My take away from the above article is that they think the Mom is deceased and that the boyfriend may be responsible for it.
Surprised? Naww... not really.

i really didnt want my thoughts to go there. im hoping that we're wrong.

why are they being so vague about the mom's whereabouts??

i have found hints in media reports that she is working with fbi behind the scenes. we all have seen other cases, too many cases, end like this and havent heard of anyone "working behind the scenes" with anybody. since she admitted to knowing he abused the child on another occasion, she may b trying to stay out of the limelight.

I just have to take a moment to clear some things up about this case. Jaimee has been "staying out of the limelight" because there were multiple petitions online demanding her arrest for failing to protect Carnel when she knew he was being abused. She literally couldn't leave her house without the possibility of a lynch mob descending on her. I live in the area, and the people here are extremely pissed that Jaimee cared more about keeping a boyfriend than she did about her son. Also, Carnel was only living with Jaimee for 21 DAYS before he died. That's right, he was in her care for just THREE WEEKS and he ended up murdered! Before that, Carnel was living with Jaimee's mother. Jaime and her mother had an argument and Jaimee took Carnel with her to get back at her mother, not because she wanted or cared about him. Since this has happened, she's been seen out partying, laughing, hanging with guys, and having a good time, no grieving at all. Her family also thought it was suspicious that Jaimee suddenly got a job as soon as she took Carnel, because between her, Anthony, and Carnel they received around $8,000 a MONTH in per-cap from the tribe. She certainly didn't need to work. All the members of the tribe around here receive an outrageous amount of per cap because the casino rakes in so much money. So don't feel sorry for Jaimee, or believe that she's in the background working hard to see justice done for her dead baby. Even the police didn't know where she was for awhile, and she only turned up because the police were getting suspicious of her motives. And they should be suspicious, because she's just as responsible for Carnel's abuse and murder as the monster who actually killed him. Some have even speculated that she and Anthony had this all planned, but that's just here-say right now. Everything else in my post is pure FACT.