Police: Parents Dissolved Four-Year-Old in Reservoir

​The parents of a four-year-old girl have been charged with the “repulsive” destruction of her remains after they allegedly used corrosive chemicals to dissolve her body before dumping it into a reservoir.

​Aiken County Sheriff Marty Sawyer, who choked back tears during a Thursday press conference, refused to refer to Michilae Herring, 22, and Johmarea Harris, 23, as “mother” or “father,” stating that they have forfeited the right to those titles.

​”In my 37-year career in law enforcement, I’ve never heard of anything so horrific,” Sheriff Sawyer said. He confirmed that “a few” remains recovered from the Cedar Creek Reservoir—also known as Stumpy Pond—in Fairfield County were identified via DNA testing as belonging to the child, Javeayah Harris.

​The investigation, which initially began as a high-profile missing child search following a 911 call on June 30, 2026, quickly shifted to a homicide inquiry. Authorities now believe Javeayah had been dead for approximately one month before her parents reported her missing.

​According to court records and investigative warrants, the couple engaged in “extensive and deliberate efforts” to destroy evidence. It is alleged that they held the child in their home while she was injured and failed to seek medical attention, eventually using “corrosive chemicals and other tools” to accelerate the destruction of her remains before pouring them into the water.

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​Sheriff Sawyer stated that it is “unlikely that the entirety of Javeayah’s body or any other remains from this point forward will be recovered.”

​Both parents are currently facing charges of homicide by child abuse and the destruction and desecration of human remains. Herring also faces a charge of filing a false police report. The couple has been denied bond, with a circuit court judge expected to revisit the matter within 30 days.