AMERIAH ROBERSON - 19 months - / Charged: Mother's boyfriend, James Harris - Chicago, IL

Girl Found Dead In Riverdale Identified As Missing Toddler

March 17, 2014 2:15 PM

CHICAGO (CBS) – Chicago police were conducting a death investigation after a toddler’s body was found in south suburban Riverdale this weekend, a day after she was reported missing from the Bronzeville neighborhood.

Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Riverdale police were called about a child’s body found in a wooded area near 140th and Normal. Ameriah Roberson was pronounced dead at the scene.

A police source tells CBS 2 surveillance video shows a suspect carrying a bag at the site where the girl’s body was dumped.

The baby’s family says the toddler’s mom had left her Sunday with her current boyfriend where he lives near 35th and Rhodes. The mother went to work and got off at 5 p.m., returning to the building to find no Ameriah.

Police said Ameriah had been reported missing from the 3500 block of South Rhodes Avenue. Preliminary information indicated she had been with an adult who walked away for a brief moment, then returned to find the child missing.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office says an autopsy rules the death a homicide, saying it was a result of a subdural hematoma.

The girl’s parents were being interviewed by Area South police Monday afternoon.

In Calumet City, family gathered to grieve where the toddler lived with her mom and grandmother.

“She will be truly missed and loved,” said Bernadette Madison, Ameriah’s grandmother.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office is reviewing the case.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/17/girl-found-dead-in-riverdale-identified-as-toddler-missing-from-chicago/

Police Question Slain Girl's Mother, Boyfriend
Autopsy indicated the cause of death as a subdural hematoma and assault

By Charlie Wojciechowski
Tuesday, Mar 18, 2014  
Updated 5:56 AM CDT

Police are questioning a slain toddler's mother and her boyfriend in the investigation related to the young girl's death.

According to the victim's family members, investigators have been speaking to the pair since Sunday night at police headquarters, and NBC 5 has learned that authorities are concerned about inconsistencies about what happened.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Monday that a body found in a wooded area in south suburban Riverdale was the missing 19-month-old Chicago girl, Ameriah Roberson.

Roberson, of the 3500 block of South Rhodes Avenue in Chicago's South Side Douglas neighborhood, was reported missing at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

Her body was discovered about two hours earlier by someone walking in an area just west of 140th Court and Stewart Avenue in Riverdale, but the identity was not immediately known.

A Monday autopsy indicated the cause of death as a subdural hematoma and assault, and police termed the case a "death investigation.

The victim's grandmother, Bernadette Madison, says the girl's mother was at work and the toddler was being watched by her new boyfriend.

Police say he admits leaving the girl unattended in her car seat near 35th and Rhodes Avenue, and when he returned, she was gone.

"Who would do something to a defenseless baby?" Madison said. "If there was a problem, if there was crying, this individual has my number, you've been to my home on numerous occasions ... this did not have to be."

The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force was investigating with Riverdale Police.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/riverdale-child-body-found-250595431.html#ixzz2wKQMfT7B

Chicago man murdered, dumped body of girlfriend’s 1-year-old toddler: police




James Harris admitted to police he killed little Amierah Roberson on Sunday at his apartment before dumping her body in a suburban park. The girl's mother was at work during the horrendous crime.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 5:51 PM



Facebook The body of a young girl found in Riverdale is that of Amierah Roberson, 1, (pictured here) who was reported missing from a South Side home, according to the medical examiner.

A Chicago man beat and battered his girlfriend’s 19-month-old toddler to death Sunday before dumping the girl’s little body in a suburban park, police said Wednesday.

Chicago Police
James Harris, 23, has been charged with murder. He's accused of killing his girlfriend’s toddler in his Chicago home then dumping the body in south suburban Riverdale.



Two hours earlier, a passerby reported finding the bruised and battered body of little Amierah Roberson, who had been dumped in broad daylight in a Riverdale park some 20 miles from Harris’s apartment.

James Harris, 23, has been charged with murder. He's accused of killing his girlfriend’s toddler in his Chicago home then dumping the body in south suburban Riverdale.

Harris finally admitted to police Wednesday that he’d beaten the girl to death in his home sometime Sunday before leaving her in the wooded park.

The girl died of head trauma. Harris is charged with murder.
Facebook Amierah Roberson's body was found in a Riverdale park on Sunday afternoon.



The girl’s mother left her little tot, whom family said loved to sing and dance, with her boyfriend of seven months while the 23-year-old woman went off to work.

After the missing report, cops combed the neighborhood looking for the girl. Harris originally told authorities he’d set the girl down briefly and then turned around to find her missing.
ABC Chicago Amierah’s body was found in a Riverdale park — two hours before she was even reported missing.
“He was running around saying, ‘She’s missing.’ My daughter was hysterical,” Bernadette Madison, Amierah’s grandmother, told the Chicago Tribune on Monday.

Harris has a small child of his own but had never been in contact with the state’s Department of Children and Family Services.
Facebook
The 19-month-old girl was fine when her mom dropped her off in Chicago's South Side on Sunday.

Roberson, though, had an abuse case pending from February, the Tribune reported.

The family has been devastated by the death and is beginning to make funeral arrangements for the smiling, loving little girl.
ABC Chicago Amierah's grandmother Bernadette Madison, 46, is devastated by the senseless murder of the smiling little toddler.
“We are just drained and we keep breaking down (emotionally),” Amierah’s aunt, Tamika Vaughen, told the newspaper. “Our hearts are so heavy. That was our baby and she was a happy baby. I can’t see why he would do this. No kid deserved that.”


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/chicago-man-murdered-girlfriend-1-year-old-toddler-police-article-1.1727254