Parents arrested in son's disappearance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Hallandale Beach Police have arrested the father and mother in connection to the disappearance of their missing 2-year-old son.

Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy held a news conference Friday morning to announce the arrests in the case of the missing child, Dontrell Melvin. "We've arrested the mother, Brittney Sierra and the father [Calvin Melvin, Jr.]," said Flournoy, "after lengthy interviews over the last 12 hours. They both have intimated that the child has been harmed in someway by each other, so they are blaming each other as it relates to the child's disappearance."

Dontrell has not been seen since July or August of 2011, and according to police, at no point since then have the parents said their child was missing.

Chief Flournoy said, based on Sierra's and Melvin's statements from the interviews, the parents are giving conflicting stories as to the whereabouts of their son. "They both have provided us an area of interest and concern that perhaps we could go and begin to look and see if the child has been harmed, where the child would possibly be," he said. "Both parents have given us an indication to look in a particular area."

The Hallandale Beach Police Department obtained a search warrant and are currently searching a home and the surrounding area near Third Street and First Avenue. Police said the parents once lived there about a year and a half ago.

Police said the parents may have spun stories about the child's whereabouts to family members over the past year and a half. "They [family members] believed that the child was possibly being taken care of by another segment of the family, where they never connected or talked," said Chief Flournoy.

Thursday, Melvin told authorities he dropped the child off at a fire station in Miami-Dade County. Flournoy said he has since recanted that story and said it's not true, and it did not happen.

Family members want answers on the whereabouts of little Dontrell.  "This is hurting my heart, man. This is hurting our family all together," said Dontrell's Godfather, Darnell Toney. "All we want to know is what happened to this baby."

Sierra and Melvin have been charged with child neglect. Chief Flournoy said they are expected in court sometime tomorrow.

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