Mother's boyfriend arrested over boy, four whose burned body was found under porch of family home

Body of Carnel Chamberlain, 4, missing since June 21 discovered on Thursday

Anthony Bennett, mother's boyfriend, accused of abusing child



Neighbours had reported a smokey smell coming from home the day Carnel vanished



An arrest has been made in the death of a 4-year-old boy whose body was found badly burned and buried beneath his mother's porch on a Michigan Indian Tribe reservation on Thursday.

Anthony Bennett, the boyfriend of Carnel Chamberlain's mother, has been charged with beating and dragging the Saginaw Chippewa Indian boy weeks before his death, but not in his murder.



Described as a 'wannabe thug,' family members say Bennett, 20, was the last person to see Carnel of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe before his disappearance on June 21.

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Assault: Anthony Bennett, 20, has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend's 4-year-old son who was found dead after missing since June 21

Bennett has a long history of trouble with the law, bouncing in and out of prison according to WOOD-TV.

According to one woman who had previously lived with him, he once killed and burned her granddaughter’s dog.



'We slowly found out he wasn't a good person,' Violet Green who says she knew Bennett for five years told WOOD-TV.

On Friday Bennett faced a charge of assault resulting in substantial bodily injury to a child under 16.



He was sent back to jail after the brief hearing in federal court in Bay City to await a detention hearing next week.

Tragic discovery: The body of 4-year-old Carnel Chamberlain of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe was found on Thursday beneath his mother's porch

Grave: Following an extensive search of the boy's tribal reservation cadaver dogs found him buried beneath this home's porch

Federal prosecutors, who handle major crimes on Indian reservations, do not want him released on bond but would not comment when asked if Bennett was being charged with assault as a way of holding him until a more serious charge is brought.



The boy's mother, 21-year-old Jaimee Chamberlain, has said Bennett was in charge of watching Carnel while she was at work. When she returned, the boy was gone and according to police Bennett was uncooperative.



According to a family spokesman and the tribe's former chief, Jaimee's cousin Kevin Chamberlain said Bennett had been in her life for about seven months.



Criminal past: Bennett, who early into the investigation was not cooperating with search efforts, has a lengthy criminal record and once set a dog on fire according to one woman

He said the family believed Bennett had a 'troubled past' and that he came off as 'a kind of wannabe thug.'



'We have no choice but to believe he had something to do with it,' Kevin Chamberlain said of Carnel's death. 'All eyes and arrows point right to him.'



'Who sets somebody on fire?' Ms Green responded to the child's body's condition, described as 'very badly burned' according to police.

'I want to know, did that boy suffer? Did he set him on fire alive or did he beat him first and then set him on fire?'



Abuse: Carnel, seen in his most recent photo, had been abused by Bennett for some time before his arrest on Friday according to the mother

Gather reports neighbours saying they smelled a smokey 'barbecue-like smell' coming from the area of the home the night the boy disappeared.

According to the two-page criminal complaint, the boy had knowingly been abused by Bennett for some time before his death but it wasn't reported.



Jaimee Chamberlain told the FBI that in late May or early June she saw her son with a bruised and swollen face as well as a cut lip.



She said her son had been struck by Bennett when she was away from the home.



A few days later, she said she saw Bennett pick up her son by the neck and drop him before dragging him into a room by his foot, according to the court document.



Never gave up: A K-9 search and rescue team is seen during the exhausting search that ended on Thursday with the boy's discovery and boyfriend's following arrest

It wasn't known why Jaimee Chamberlain allowed her son to be in her boyfriend's company if she believed he was abusing the boy. She answered her phone when contacted by The Associated Press but hung up without commenting.



Bennett did not appear with a lawyer Friday but suggested he might hire one. Authorities declined to comment outside the courtroom.



The courtroom Friday was full of people who were there to support Carnel and his mother.



'I'm here for Carnel. I am Carnel,' grandmother Joann Chamberlain said.



A tribal police car sat outside the family's house, not far from the headquarters of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe and the tribe's financial lifeblood, the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort.

Future charges: Prosecutors declined to say whether they wished to hold Bennett without bond until a more serious charge is brought against him

People were leaving flowers and items of remembrance for the little boy at the home. At midday, a man got out of a vehicle and placed a stuffed animal on the fence before hopping back in and driving away.



'Nothing this monumentally horrific has ever happened in our community,' Kevin Chamberlain said. 'Right now, it's a very sombre place with a lot of broken hearts.'



Carnel's great-aunt, Esther Chatfield, 58, lives next door to the home. She said she and her husband became Jaimee Chamberlain's foster parents when Chamberlain was 8-years-old.



'My husband and I are just destroyed by this,' Chatfield said.

Watch the video here:

Man charged in 'assault' of 4-year-old: woodtv.com



