Army specialist and teenager charged with kidnapping, killing 20-year-old soldier
Updated Dec 29, 2020;
Posted Dec 29, 2020
Hayden Harris, 20, was found shot to death in a wooded area in Sussex County.(U.S. Army photo)
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Two people, including a fellow soldier, have been charged with killing a U.S. Army soldier whose body was discovered in Sussex County, N.J., this month, authorities said.
Specialist Jamaal Mellish, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 16-year-old male whose name was not released were charged with kidnapping and killing 20-year-old Cpl. Hayden Harris, the Sussex County prosecutor’s office announced Monday.
Harris, who was assigned to Fort Drum in upstate New York, was found shot to death on Dec. 19 in a wooded area near Ross Road in Byram Township, Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller said earlier this month.
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Murder, kidnapping charges lodged in Hayden Harris death
Murder, kidnapping charges lodged in Hayden Harris death By 7 News Staff | December 28, 2020 at 3:52 PM EST - Updated December 29 at 3:12 PM
WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - Prosecutors in New Jersey have lodged murder and kidnapping charges against two men in connection with the death of Fort Drum soldier Hayden Harris.
Harris’s body was found December 19 in a remote part of northern New Jersey. He had been shot to death.
Prosecutors have charged another soldier, Jamaal Mellish, 23, with first degree murder, first degree kidnapping and related charges. (See the full list of charges at the bottom of this story.)
With his red hair, freckles and sunny disposition, everyone at home knew Hayden Harris as Opie.
The kid from rural Tennessee was affectionate, thoughtful – a good Christian boy, said Claire Hallissy, a family friend. He had an infectious smile and one passion in life: to join the U.S. Army.
For the 20-year-old, that dream came to a mysterious end last weekend in the snowy woods of Sussex County, 1,000 miles from his hometown in Guys, Tennessee, and 300 more from Fort Drum, New York, where he d been stationed since July 2019. A week after Harris body was found, officials still haven t explained a motive for the alleged killing or why the soldier ended up buried near a secluded cul-de-sac in Byram Township.
Vigil held in Thompson Park to remember the life of CPL Hayden Harris
Vigil held in Thompson Park to remember the life of CPL Hayden Harris By Ashley Seybolt, John Pirsos, and 7 News Staff | December 23, 2020 at 6:50 PM EST - Updated December 24 at 7:29 AM
WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - “We’re celebrating his life tonight. That’s what we’re going to do. Even though it was a short life, we’re celebrating his life tonight,” said Pastor Jeffrey Smith of the First Baptist Church.
A large group gathered at the Tenth Mountain Division Monument at Thompson Park Wednesday night.
The focus: Corporal Hayden Harris. The 20-year-old Fort Drum soldier, and Tennessee native, who was killed in New Jersey over the weekend. Several people spoke to honor his life, including a fellow soldier: