Javeayah Harris Case: What Evidence Could Investigators Still Find?

[00:00:00]Hey everyone, I'm Ann Emerson, and this is Criminally Obsessed. I was listening the other day to a press conference about a little girl who was killed by her parents. The sheriff was explaining how they found her, and I just couldn't comprehend what he said. Just listen.

[00:00:15]>> What remains were left of Ja'veah into the Cedar Creek Reservoir.

[00:00:20]>> Yeah, I had to go back and listen again.

[00:00:22]I don't think I've ever heard anything like this before. This is sweet little Ja'veah Harris, just 4 years old. Police believe she died at the hands of her mother and father. She was abused, and then they disposed of her body in a vat of chemicals.

[00:00:38]>> You have to have time to go and acquire a corrosive material and stand by while it's being done. Just wrap your brain around that for a second. That's kind of evil we're talking about.

[00:00:49]>> Her parents have reportedly confessed to her murder, and get this, her mother was 9 months pregnant. In order to take this to trial, prosecutors are going to have to lay out the timeline and explain how this happened, how they found Ja'veah's remains, and how they were able to identify her. Forensically, I have so many questions, and I'm sure you do, too. So, I had to bring in Joseph Scott Morgan, who's seen it all, or so I thought.

[00:01:18]>> My old saying is there is no basement house in private. So, you know, it's going to keeps on going. You know, you think you've hit rock bottom, it's like, man, another level to go down.

[00:01:28]>> I mean, who comes up with this idea? And how do you get your hands on those kind of chemicals?

[00:01:33]>> You don't have to be a chemist.

[00:01:36]Um, it's easily accessible because we use it for cleaning drains.

[00:01:42]>> And ultimately, how do you investigate this? Be sure to like and subscribe for more deep dives like this one. But first, I want to warn you, this interview is not for the faint of heart. But if you're trying to understand the how and why. Let's get into it.

[00:02:04]My friend Joseph Scott Morgan, it is so good to see you again. I'm so glad you could talk to us about this case.

[00:02:10]>> Yeah. Yeah, it's good to see you, too, Anne, and uh just I'm so sick of seeing people do things to kids. I to my back teeth and when you reached out to me about this case, I wanted to talk to you about it because again another little one uh has had great harm come to her, great terminal harm, and then, oh my lord, what was done afterwards if that's not bad enough. So, thank you for giving me an opportunity to chat.

[00:02:38]>> I mean, it really is the most horrific thing I've heard about in a long time.

[00:02:43]And, you know, I thought of you because there are so many questions about the way they described what these um parents allegedly did to their child.

[00:02:52]I mean, your immediate reaction when you hear this is just appalling.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah. Yeah, it is. And uh you know, the thing about it is you get an you get a sense, and I don't want to go too far down this rabbit hole with the psychology behind it or anything, but I think just the humanity of you see how uh even the most precious among us are devalued to this point where someone could take go to this level of horror, I think, is is what really are we developing a callous to this? I don't feel like I am. I know you're not.

[00:03:26]Uh but it just it it just keeps happening.

[00:03:30]>> I think also what what bothers people so much is because it is parents and this is their child. This is not a random child that was picked by random people, allegedly. Can investigators tell us when she was killed?

[00:03:43]>> Yeah, I think that probably the best way to establish that timeline is trying to understand when she was actually last seen alive.

[00:03:49]And marry that up digitally.

[00:03:51]>> Well, and I mean just the level of planning and the amount of effort that one would have to go through to do something this horrible.

[00:04:05]Is this is not a panicked response. I mean, it wasn't like >> Mhm.

[00:04:10]>> this little girl got got hurt and then all of the sudden they were like, "Oh, we got to do something with the body."

[00:04:15]It's like >> You're absolutely right. Yeah.

[00:04:17]>> And they think she had been gone for a long time. I mean, I think they thought she had been gone for for quite some time.

[00:04:23]>> Right. Right.

[00:04:24]>> But this is no panicked response. This is this is they're laying out a pre-determined sort of focus.

[00:04:34]>> Yeah, and you know, yeah, from an investigative standpoint, I think that one of the things that that I would take some uh uh solace in is fact that um you know, many times what lawyers would do, defense attorneys, when you have something that's so horrific, so over the top, they'll say, "Well, there's indwelling, you know, mental illness here."

[00:05:00]Um well, now you got two folks >> Mhm.

[00:05:04]>> that are involved in that. Now, I guess they could say, "Well, you know, she's traumatized by the male and the male was making her do all this stuff and that's not going to surprise me if they come up with that." But now you got two people.

[00:05:17]So, it kind of it diminishes that you know, falling back to whatever psychopathology they may have been dealing with. You got one guy that's out there, you know, killing people and uh rendering bodies down and doing all this >> Uh yeah, you got two people. So, now it's that opportunity is greatly diminished itself. Yeah.

[00:05:37]>> We have learned that there were chemicals, corrosive chemicals that were involved in order to try and hide the evidence, which would have been sweet little J'veon's body. Um and in order for them to do this, there's a lot to unpack here, but I think I I'm just going to start off with what kind of chemicals are we talking about?

[00:05:57]>> I don't know. I mean, my first stop along the evidentiary continuum here is probably going to be sulfuric acid because it is highly corrosive.

[00:06:05]Um and it is accessible. And here's here's one hopeful bit.

[00:06:13]Um you're going to show up on the radar if you purchase this.

[00:06:17]Like you you're not going to run down you're not going to run down to a five and dime and buy this. You're probably going to go to a hardware store.

[00:06:26]Um and you'll show up, you know, I guess you could walk in and pay cash for it, but you're going to show up um and it'll be very specific. Now, I I have no inside knowledge relative to whether or not this agent is in fact sulfuric acid. However, I've worked other cases or covered other cases involving corrosive chemicals uh chemicals and sulfuric acid always pops its head up along the way. It's something everybody's familiar with. You don't have to be a chemist. Um it's easily accessible because we use it for cleaning drains.

[00:07:02]Just understand that. That's what that's what this you know, you begin to think about this accessibility.

[00:07:08]Uh it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be able to do this.

[00:07:12]And it's again, I'm just thinking about accessibility and what would be out there that someone would know about unless they're involved in some kind of industry where there's another corrosive that's out there. Either way, it will greatly impact whatever the agent is. It will greatly impact the medical legal communities' ability to uh not just do identification, but also to assess trauma. And you know, you if you're going to hang your hat on anything from a medical legal perspective, you have to say, you know, cuz everybody's going to ask this question, and um how'd she die? How'd she die? How'd she die? And people are going to want to know that, and the agent could in fact uh could in fact impact that ability.

[00:07:56]>> According to the to the to the information we've gotten from investigators so far, there uh seems to have been um they say that there had been some kind of uh abuse.

[00:08:10]>> Yeah.

[00:08:10]>> Um from the mom, and when that occurred this followed. Um and and so this was a way of getting a rid of the evidence of whatever occurred uh according to the investigators between the mom and and Ja'Veah, which is just heartbreaking.

[00:08:27]>> Yeah, and here's here's another little piece I picked up on um is that apparently there was some kind of attempt, and I don't know to what degree.

[00:08:37]There was allegedly they have visual of some kind of attempt to um render down the body prior to the chemicals being applied. What that means is I'm thinking some attempt at dismemberment.

[00:08:51]>> Okay.

[00:08:51]>> Um you know, to pull this precious little angel's body apart.

[00:08:54]>> Oh my god.

[00:08:55]>> and then and but again, that's something that you see uh this is so horrific, however.

[00:09:03]If if you think about if you're trying to render something down, okay?

[00:09:07]Um it's it would be you could facilitate it much easier if you have have a remains in multiple components.

[00:09:17]Again, I don't know what sheriff has, what SLED has, you know, all these other agencies that might be involved in it.

[00:09:24]Um but you know, there has been thought that has gone into this. That's one of the other things you can kind of evidence by what has happened. Uh you're thinking about, well, how in the world, you know, you're going to get rid of the body? Why not just go out into the woods? There's a whole lot of woods in that area, right?

[00:09:44]>> Right.

[00:09:45]>> Um and leave her there. Or why not submerge her in water? It's not what they did. They prepped.

[00:09:51]If we are to believe what they're saying relative to breaking her little body down, uh she's in multiple pieces. That means that you have to have the ability and the tools to facilitate that. You also have to have privacy.

[00:10:05]Out of view of everybody else. And then you have to have time to go and acquire a corrosive material and stand by while it's being done. Just wrap your brain around that for a second. That's kind of evil we're talking about. And particularly if they are allegedly connected to this child, that this is their baby.

[00:10:24]Uh again, it takes a measure.

[00:10:27]>> weeks pregnant when this when allegedly something happened to this little girl.

[00:10:35]>> J'veah is spelled J A V E A Y A H.

[00:10:41]And I wasn't out here. I'm 39 weeks pregnant. I can't keep up with her like that. But what worries me is these crackheads and wolves behind the house.

[00:10:50]I don't know.

[00:10:51]>> Yeah.

[00:10:52]>> She gives birth. So this is a woman who is now giving birth in the what we would call like the fourth trimester of >> Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

[00:11:00]Yes, ma'am.

[00:11:01]>> And and investigators are accusing her of being involved in something this heinous. That is what blows my mind >> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:10]Yeah.

[00:11:11]>> As another little precious life is growing within her, she's doing she's doing this.

[00:11:16]And uh you know, I And what was really impactful is when you could actually see the in the sheriff, I think it was the sheriff.

[00:11:26]Forgive me if I'm missed.

[00:11:28]Uh where he is visibly shaken by this. Because you can see, you know, some people in this world uh where they'll get up and they'll just be stone-faced. They're going to give the you know, give what they know at that particular time. And are there any questions? You know, well, stand by.

[00:11:46]We'll have another press conference soon. And they ain't what happened here.

[00:11:49]This so impacted this man and probably all of his staff.

[00:11:55]>> Mhm.

[00:11:55]>> Um that they're they're probably still scratching their heads over. They can't They They're in a state of mind cuz I've had this happen to me. They're in a state of mind where they're saying, I I can't believe my eyes. I can't believe I just bore witness to what I saw.

[00:12:10]>> Mhm. Now, he said he wouldn't even call them parents.

[00:12:13]He said he wouldn't even get them the the the name of parents because how could any parents do something like this?

[00:12:21]>> I will not refer to them as mom and dad or mother, father.

[00:12:32]They don't deserve that title.

[00:12:34]>> As one that's been out there with them toe-to-toe on these kind of cases, what what are those what are those conversations like in the back room of the of the sheriff's office right now?

[00:12:44]>> have them.

[00:12:46]You don't have them. Because as soon as you you have them, you might have it initially.

[00:12:52]>> It made me cry.

[00:12:53]>> off, there's going to be more more cases like it.

[00:12:56]And they're the ones that are tasked with viewing these things that other people can't even begin to to imagine. They're going to carry this stuff with them home.

[00:13:05]I know cuz I did. And >> Yeah.

[00:13:07]>> um Uh you know, a couple of things will happen.

[00:13:11]Um Uh you know, if you start to talk about it too much, it'll be seen as weakness cuz you're supposed to, you know, >> Hold the line.

[00:13:20]>> face Set your face like flint and go on into the maelstrom.

[00:13:23]Um and that's a that's a a difficult thing to do. It's part of the job.

[00:13:30]Uh but it you pay a price for it long-term. It whittles away at your soul bit by bit. Many times you don't have anything left for your family.

[00:13:38]And uh it's really hard to have those discussions. It really is. And I still to this day don't think that uh the mental health community really knows how to deal with people that bear witness to these things cuz they can't take the measure of it. You know, sitting in sitting in some office somewhere and talking and and all that sorts sorts things. I'm sure that people have gotten had great successes all over the country. But by and large, you know, most people walk around in silence with this uh because it's what you signed up to do.

[00:14:07]>> These two individuals poured what remains were left of Zuveia into the Cedar Creek Reservoir.

[00:14:20]These subjects went through great lengths to cover their repulsive and revolting actions.

[00:14:28]>> I think one of my biggest questions here is how in the world did these investigators they might have known exactly where to look in this reservoir. They may have known, right? Like we went down this road. This is where we went and it was right here. But we're talking about partial remains that are in a reservoir.

[00:14:48]>> Well, unless he's got a boat, they're not going to be too far from shore. My suspicion is this and what's going to happen is that whatever corrosive um uh chemicals that they may have applied um they will have had to have done this in a separate container, okay? With the rendering.

[00:15:08]>> Okay.

[00:15:08]>> Um and what happens when this occurs is that you'll see tissue, soft tissue we're talking about. We're talking about muscle, uh any kind of sinew to a certain degree, skin. Okay. Any kind of soft tissue, organs that after it's applied and it does liquefy, it will literally float to the top. And then, what happens to the bone? Well, the bone sinks to the bottom. Okay. Now, it's just my thought and if I'm looking at this from an investigator perspective, one of the things I would think about, we go back to ID relative to this baby.

[00:15:47]Um I'm thinking that this ID has come about as a result of recovering skeletal remains. Whatever portion of skeleton is remains, okay? In those kind of waters, where this reservoir is, being from South, I know what those waters look like. It's going to be a clay It's going to be a clay bottom.

[00:16:07]>> were expecting them never to be found again. Like this is >> Right. And it's So, they would have to have a specific point of entry. And you know what I'd said I what I'd mentioned this to you off air. I was thinking that maybe somebody rolled over. But you know the in the world that we live in now, you don't need anybody to roll over because uh you know these things are with us everywhere we go. So, if he if he goes to a boat ramp or goes to a park, you know, how how these lakes, these reservoirs will have like public parks alongside, walks over to the edge um and pours this out. Now, they're running a risk here. I mean, a real risk. I'm I'm interested to know what kind of conveyance that would have been used. For instance, if it Using my example of sulfuric acid, you're not going to you're not going to pour sulfuric acid into an aluminum or metal container. It'll leak through it. So, you have to use plastic. All right. So, if you take plastic and still this is going to slop around. If this gets on you, you're going to get burned. And also, by the by, when you when you make contact with the water and you pour the stuff off into it, there'll be a huge cloud that will kind of rise up cuz it it reacts very violently. You know, as a matter of fact, you can get splashback on you.

[00:17:26]Um so, I I don't know. I'm I'm fascinated to hear what they found and how they located her her tiny little remains. You know, how did they I they just have to have very specifics. I mean, a lot of specific data.

[00:17:39]>> you're saying. Yeah, in other words, like this had to be they either they were incredibly lucky or they were incredibly uh pinpointed exactly where this went down.

[00:17:51]They're alleged murderers right now. Is there any other title that you can give to people that that do something this this damn evil?

[00:17:59]>> No, it's just grotesque to me. Uh you know, um I I you know, I tried to I've quit trying to plumb the depths of the evil, you know, that that I see. Uh all I can do is just kind of be a tour guide and try to explain it because there there is we could go it will drive you to madness if you try to explain it on any or use any kind of descriptor because you're thinking, "Well, I've just about seen everything I can see. Oh, wait a minute.

[00:18:27]I got something else I want to show you." And it just it just keeps going on and on and on and on. You think that, you know, my old saying is there is no basement in the house of the depravity.

[00:18:38]So, you know, it's kind of keeps on going. You know, you think you've hit rock bottom. It's like, "Man, another level to go down." They have to do this and and that's going to require really digging into the past as as uh definitively as they possibly can going back in time and tracking the timeline, as it were, uh from the moment I'm talking about from the moment this child drew her first breath, Ann, uh and moving forward, you know, down this timeline so that you can kind of begin to piece this out because what's going to be critical here is that um somebody's going to have to sit in that that box at trial and talk to that jury um and tell them what happened so that they can understand and it needs to be very succinct and it needs to be it needs to be to the point and so you got to collect all this data and break it down so that everybody understands it.

[00:19:33]>> Drop a comment below. I want to hear what you're thinking about this case.

[00:19:36]It's a really really tough one to hear, but I think it's important that we get the facts straight. I want to thank Joseph Scott Morgan for coming on and explaining some of the forensics to us.

[00:19:46]It's such a difficult difficult story to hear when it's a 4-year-old little girl.

[00:19:52]Be sure to like and subscribe as well. I want to keep you up to date on this story and all the other ones that we're covering and the deep dives that we can go into.