The search warrant detectives drafted to obtain an accused child killer’s DNA reveals more details of the crime.
According to the document drafted by Detective Dwayne Shaw and signed by Rock County Judge Michael Haakenson, the eight-year-old child was first reported missing from her town of Fulton by her father just after 6 p.m. last Saturday.
She was supposed to under the care of her brother, 20-year-old Dayveon Lathrop.
According to the search warrant, Lathrop told a responding town of Fulton police officer that he was not aware of what happened and said he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. That officer observed knives in the downstairs bathroom the officer said “appeared out of place.”
A sheriff’s deputy spoke with the father of the missing child who said that Lathrop made a comment about the girl being dead, when he was asked about her whereabouts. The father says Lathrop wouldn’t elaborate.
Two witnesses in the neighborhood at the time reported observing a verbal argument between the siblings. The victim was in the front yard, and Lathrop was in the front doorway of the home, which is located in a small rural residential subdivision at 5587 W. Miles Road.
Deputies obtained a search warrant for the home where they found the girl’s body inside a storage tote in the basement.
Lathrop is expected to make his initial appearance in Rock County Court Friday afternoon on charges of first degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse, child neglect, bail jumping, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
