Family member charged after 8-year-old found dead, sheriff says

FULTON TOWNSHIP, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A 20-year-old Wisconsin man is accused of homicide after an 8-year-old family member was found dead in a Rock County home, the sheriff said.

Rock County Sheriff Curtis Fell said officers arrived around 6:30 p.m. Saturday to a home on the 5500 block of W. Miles Road in Fulton for the report of a missing child. Deputies and a Fulton officer searched the home and called out for the child but did not find the 8-year-old, WMTV reports.

A group of deputies, officers, a K-9 team and a drone team searched outside the home and in the neighborhood.

Fell said while searches were conducted, officers detained a 20-year-old family member of the child. Fell explained that circumstances at the time led to the detainment but did not elaborate.

“We’re not going to disclose any of that right now during the investigation,” Fell said.

Authorities obtained a search warrant to the residence and did a more comprehensive search, eventually locating the child’s body.

An autopsy determined that the child’s cause of death was homicide.

Fell said that detectives arrested the 20-year-old suspect, identified as Dayveon Lathrop, around 11 a.m. Monday. He is accused of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. When he was detained, he was also facing charges of child neglect causing death, possession of drug paraphernalia and bail jumping.

The suspect is undergoing an evaluation, according to Fell.

Fell indicated no one else was home at the time of the alleged homicide. There have been no previous known reports to law enforcement about the victim and the suspect.

Fell described the homicide as tragic, giving his condolences to the child’s loved ones and the community.

“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the family,” Fell said. “Obviously, this has a significant effect on them. For our own people, we keep in contact with them every day over this. Anything involving a child is difficult, and it’s something you never forget.”

An initial appearance has not been set officially for the suspect, but the Rock County District Attorney’s Office said they expect it will happen on Wednesday.