Joshua Justin Summeries

• Missing Since 08/19/2013
• Missing From Zion, Illinois
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 03/13/2013 (11)
• Age 5 months old
• Height and Weight Unknown
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance

Joshua was last seen in Zion, Illinois on August 19, 2013. He started crying in the early morning hours and his mother, Kisha Summeries, went to quiet him.

At 8:00 a.m., his mother's boyfriend, Demetries Thorpe, told Kisha that Joshua had been abducted by a man who reached through an open window into the apartment. When Kisha asked him more questions, such as why he had not called the police, he fled.

Thorpe was located at 6:00 p.m. the following day and taken in for questioning. Two days later, he confessed to the infant's murder.

A photo of Thorpe is posted with this case summary. He said he'd suffocated Joshua with his hand while trying to stop his crying. Thorpe said he put the body in a backpack and placed it in a garbage can behind the apartment building. A surveillance camera filmed him removing the backpack from the can and putting it in a dumpster just before the dumpster was emptied by a garbage truck.

Authorities searched Zion's 330-acre landfill on Green Bay Road for four days, but were unable to find Joshua's body. Thorpe was charged with first-degree murder. He ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison with no possibility for parole. Kisha was cooperative with the investigation and no charges were filed against her.

Joshua left behind five siblings. Four were in the custody of the state at the time of his disappearance; the fifth, a boy, was placed in his father's care after Joshua vanished. His body has never been found.