New Jersey Herald
What was the motive behind the killing of a 20-year-old Fort Drum soldier? Why was he buried 300 miles away under snow in a secluded wooded area in Sussex County? What led authorities to charge another soldier from the same New York military base with first-degree murder? Who is the 16-year-old also charged with the murder?
All these questions and more remain unanswered as the numerous agencies overseeing the case are still piecing it together, Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller told the New Jersey Herald.
The investigation is focusing on a motive for the Dec. 19 killing of Army Cpl. Hayden Harris as well as how the suspects and the victim ended up in Byram. Was it just a random exit off Route 80 to Route 206 and eventually to secluded Ross Road, or was there a reason the area was chosen?
A 23-year-old U.S. Army soldier from New York and a teen are accused of kidnapping and killing another soldier whose body was later found in a wooded area of North Jersey, a week before Christmas.
Specialist Jamaal Mellish, of Brooklyn, and a 16-year-old male juvenile are both charged with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in the death of 20-year-old Cpl. Hayden Harris, according to Sussex County Prosecutor Francis A. Koch on Monday.
Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller previously told the New Jersey Herald murder charges were expected and that Mellish was in custody, suspected in the death. Mueller also said at the time a juvenile had been in the car used to kidnap Harris.
Soldier And Juvenile Charged With Kidnapping, Murdering Fellow Serviceman
On 12/29/20 at 6:42 AM EST
Authorities have charged a U.S. Army soldier and a 16-year-old boy with murdering a fellow soldier who was found shot dead in New Jersey.
The body of 20-year-old Corporal Hayden Harris was discovered by police in a wooded area of Byram Township, New Jersey, on December 19.
Harris, of Guys, Tennessee, was last heard from as he headed from the Fort Drum base near the Canadian border to Watertown, New York, for a vehicle transaction, the U.S. Army s Criminal Investigation Command said.
In a news release on Monday, Sussex County Prosecutor Francis A. Koch said Specialist Jamaal Mellish and a 16-year-old boy, who was not identified, have been charged in connection with Harris s death.
BYRAM Township firefighters carrying out their annual Santa ride on Saturday made the grim discovery of blood in snow, which led to the body of a missing Army soldier.
Police said in a written statement that they responded to the wooded area near Ross Road on Saturday after 2 p.m. and recovered the body of 20-year-old Cpl. Hayden Harris, who was partly buried under snow. Harris had been reported as missing from Fort Drum in New York a day earlier.
Township police said that when they got in touch with the U.S. Army and the Jefferson County Sheriff s Department, they already had Jamaal Mellish, also an Army soldier, in custody as a suspect in Harris disappearance.