Army soldier, 20, found shot to death in NJ, prosecutor says
A 20-year-old Army soldier reported missing from upstate New York has been found dead in Sussex County, and a fellow soldier has been accused of involvement in the death, according to authorities.
Cpl. Hayden Harris, who had been based at Fort Drum in NY, was last heard from alive between Thursday night around 8 p.m. and Friday morning around 6:30 a.m., according to U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.
Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller confirmed to New Jersey 101.5 his earlier statement to the New Jersey Herald,that another soldier, 23-year-old Jamaal Mellish, was being accused of abducting Harris and eventually driving him into North Jersey.
FORT DRUM â An argument between two Fort Drum soldiers swapping their vehicles with each other apparently led to one of them being shot to death in a wooded area in northern New Jersey.
First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller told the New Jersey Herald that the body of Cpl. Hayden A. Harris, 20, was found on Saturday in a wooded area in Byram Township, Sussex County, N.J., and a fellow soldier was taken into custody in connection with his death.Â
Pvt. Jamaal Mellish, 23, remains in the custody of Fort Drum Military Police.
Cpl. Harris was meeting with Mellish âfor some type of vehicle exchangeâ in Watertown when the meeting escalated, according to the New Jersey newspaper.
REPORT: NJ prosecutors will charge soldier in CPL Hayden Harrisâ death
REPORT: NJ prosecutors will charge soldier in CPL Hayden Harrisâ death By 7 News Staff | December 20, 2020 at 8:53 PM EST - Updated December 21 at 12:43 PM
BYRAM, N.J. (WWNY) - The New Jersey Herald newspaper reports a soldier has been taken into custody and will be charged with the murder of CPL Hayden Harris, a Fort Drum soldier who went missing about two days ago and was recently found dead.
Speaking with Sussex County NJ First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller, Herald reporter Lori Comstock learned that the suspect who will be charged with the murder is one of Harrisâ fellow soldiers, 23 year old Jamaal Mellish.