Authorities have officially ruled the death of a 2-year-old boy, believed to be Kyrian Knox of Rockford, found dismembered in the Garfield Park Lagoon in September a homicide.
Kyrian Knox | Rockford police
The Cook County medical examiner’s office is still awaiting DNA tests to formally identify the toddler, whom detectives have named as Kyrian Knox, but an office spokeswoman announced Friday that his death was ruled a “homicide by unspecified means.”
In late November, investigators said they’d hit a wall in the investigation as the last known people to have seen the boy alive were not cooperating with police.
The body parts were found in the lagoon Sept. 5, about two weeks before Kyrian was reported missing from a residence in Rockford where he’d been staying with Kamel Harris, a male friend of his mother; and Harris’ girlfriend, Danyelle Foggs. Kyrian’s mother, Lanisha Knox, told investigators she left her son there went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to start a new job.
Based on the missing person report, Chicago Police went to Rockford to collect DNA from Kyrian’s mother, which matched the remains found in the lagoon.
Before the DNA match, Rockford police interviewed Harris, the friend who reported Kyrian missing. He told investigators he’d handed the boy over to three people who claimed they were friends of the Knox family and would be taking Kyrian to his mother. Rockford police also spoke to Foggs.
But now Chicago Police want to talk at length to Harris and Foggs. Police know where they are—Harris is living in the Milwaukee area and Foggs in Rockford—but neither has responded to requests to talk, Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Dean Andrews said at a press conference Nov. 19.
“It’s unfathomable to me that when we’re talking about a tender-aged child, that we find body parts of, and you won’t cooperate on a case like that? I cannot wrap my brain around it,” Andrews said.
Police said Lanisha Knox is cooperating with investigators.
—Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Sun-Times Wire