A 4-year-old’s body is still missing after police charge mother and her boyfriend in alleged fatal beating in West Philly

Authorities say a four-year-old boy who was first reported as missing from West Philadelphia and then falsely reported as having been fatally struck by a car, was beaten to death in early December and put in a trash can, as police continue to search for the child’s body.

Police began searching for Damari Carter after 6ABC passed along a tip about a child missing from West Philadelphia, according to police records. As police began to investigate, they got in touch with the the child’s grandfather, who told police that his daughter, Dominique Bailey, told him her child had been fatally hit by a car and that his body was in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, records said.

But after contacting the Philadelphia Police Department Crash Investigation division and local hospitals, detectives could not find any evidence of a fatal car collision involving Damari, according to records.

After statements to police last week from Bailey, when she told authorities of her involvement in Damari’s death, she was charged with murder, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, false reports, tampering with evidence, and abuse of corpse, and related crimes. Her boyfriend, Kevin Spencer, of the 3800 block of Reno Street, was also charged with murder, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, false reports, tampering with evidence, and abuse of corpse, and related crimes.

A spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office declined to comment Monday afternoon as to who investigators believe killed Damari.

“We think he was beaten to death,” Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said Monday afternoon. “Of course we don’t have a body, but we have other evidence that leads us to believe that.”

In a statement to police January 4, Bailey said she and Damari had been staying with Spencer after moving to Philadelphia from Texas in late November, according to police records. Bailey initially told police Spencer was with Damari at the time the child was fatally struck by the car, records show.

On January 5, police executed a search warrant at the residence on the 3800 block of Reno Street, found Spencer at the house and brought him in for questioning, records show.

That same day, Bailey told police she had seen Spencer beat Damari frequently, often leaving the child with severe bruises, according to police records. After police showed her video retrieved from Spencer’s cell phone that showed Damari with bruises, Bailey ultimately told police that Damari had died the night of Dec. 7, 2023, after Spencer beat the child, finding Damari cold to the touch in a wicker chair in the living room when she went to kiss him goodnight, police records said.

Bailey told police Spencer put the child in a trash can that had a bag in it, but did not tell police where Damari’s body ended up, according to police records. As of Monday, police were still searching for Damari’s body.