Aiken County parents are charged after missing 4-year-old case shifts

Aiken County authorities say they now believe missing 4-year-old Javeayah Harris was dead for at least a month by the time she was reported missing June 30, and booking records show her parents, Johmarea Harris, 23, and Michilae Herring, 22, were booked July 3 in Aiken County.

Sheriff Marty Sawyer said July 4 that both parents were charged with homicide by child abuse. Booking records show Herring was also booked on a charge of filing a false police report. Sawyer said authorities are searching for the child's body in an undisclosed area outside Aiken.

Earlier in the week, investigators said Herring called 911 shortly after 8:45 p.m. June 30 and reported last seeing Javeayah around 8 p.m. near the family's chicken coop at their home. Authorities had previously said they believed the child wandered away and had found no evidence of an abduction.