Charges against parents of missing baby have changed

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- The parents of a child, who had been missing for over a year, are facing new charges.

It had been more than a year since anyone had seen 5-month-old, Dantrell Melvin, when he was found in the backyard of his parents home in Hallandale Beach, last month.

The parents, 21-year-old Brittney Sierra and 27-year-old Calvin Melvin, Jr., were both back in court in Fort Lauderdale, Friday, having their new charges arraigned to them. Both plead not guilty.

Initially, the mother was charged with cruelty to a child, but now, she has been charged with two counts of child neglect with bodily harm.

The father, who had been charged with cruelty to a child, has now been charged with three counts of lying to a law enforcement.

A year and a half went by with no sightings of Dantrell until a social worker went to check up on three children but discovered only two were there. That's when both the parent's stories started changing and went from, "The child is being raised by family members," to "We have surrendered the child to a fire department." None of the stories turned out to be true.

Eventually, the two parents turned on each other and led police to the backyard where they found the remains of a child.

Prosecutors said the charges could change again if the remains are identified as those of Dantrell Melvin.

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