{"id":8701396,"date":"2022-12-29T17:12:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T01:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8701396&preview=true&preview_id=8701396"},"modified":"2022-12-30T05:22:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T13:22:00","slug":"boy-2-slain-along-oaklands-international-boulevard-body-found-in-napa-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/12\/29\/boy-2-slain-along-oaklands-international-boulevard-body-found-in-napa-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy, 2, slain along Oakland\u2019s International Boulevard; body found in Napa County"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2014 A 2-year-old boy\u2019s body was recently found in Napa County<\/a> after detectives suspect he was killed somewhere along International Boulevard in Oakland, police announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

The discovery of the boy\u2019s body on Dec. 23 ended a daylong search for the child in a case that appears to have stretched across Northern California, from the streets of Oakland and San Pablo to Napa Valley. Police have since identified him as Jamari Madkins.<\/p>\n

But nearly a week after the Oakland Police Department\u2019s grisly find, authorities remained tight-lipped about the case \u2014 leaving unclear exactly where the boy lived, why his last moments alive were in Oakland or even how long he has been dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a tragic case of a 2-year-old child,\u201d said Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, adding that his officers were in contact with the boy\u2019s family, specifically his grandmother. \u201cThis should not have happened. My heart goes out to the family. My heart goes out to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigation began when the San Pablo Police Department notified Oakland authorities\u00a0just before 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 23 that a toddler had possibly been killed in Oakland.<\/p>\n

Later that same day, investigators discovered the child\u2019s body in Napa County, Armstrong said. The boy\u2019s remains were found outside, though Armstrong gave no other details on where he was found.<\/p>\n

It is unclear how long the child had been dead, however, \u201cthe child was exactly where we were told the child would be,\u201d said Armstrong, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

San Pablo police helped detain a person with \u201ca close connection to the child\u201d in relation with the case \u2014 though no murder or child abuse charges had been filed Thursday afternoon against that person in the child\u2019s death, Armstrong said. He did not provide further specifics about the potential suspect.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement sources, however, confirmed that the person detained was a 21-year-old Antioch man who acted as the pimp of the boy\u2019s 17-year-old mother. He is being held on a felony human trafficking charge of coercing a minor to engage in commercial sex, along with the additional felony charges of pimping, and pandering, according to court documents obtained by this news organization.<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s mother began dating the 21-year-old man in late September and soon began working as a prostitute for him in various cities across the region until just before Christmas, the court documents say. That included at least one stop near 19th Avenue and E. 15th Street, in Oakland\u2019s San Antonio neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Police said the boy appears to have been killed somewhere along International Boulevard, not far from where his mother was being trafficked. No cause of death had been determined by Thursday afternoon, though an autopsy was planned, Armstrong said.<\/p>\n

San Pablo police pulled the 21-year-old man and 17-year-old girl over in the early morning hours of Dec. 23, during which an officer realized that the teen \u2014 who lived in Fairfield \u2014 was the subject of a missing person\u2019s report, the court documents said. Until that point, the man and the teen girl had been living in the man\u2019s vehicle and at a Stockton motel.<\/p>\n