Police investigate death of 12-year-old boy found badly malnourished as a homicide

MILWAUKEE (WDJT) - The death of a 12-year-old boy found extremely malnourished inside a home is now being investigated as a homicide, according to the Milwaukee County Coroner’s Office.

“I feel like I was stunned a little bit. You think everything’s been good this whole time. So, I would definitely say stunned, for me,” Jordan Robinson, the brother of Jacari Robinson, said.

Jacarie Robinson’s family was grief-stricken Wednesday outside the house where the 12-year-old boy’s body was found.

With ten siblings in different homes, it was sometimes difficult to stay in touch, but Jacarie’s family still could not believe he was gone.

“To my knowledge, my mom said everything was good,” Jordan Robinson said. “We always asked about him, of course. But to my knowledge, everything was good in our books.”

Milwaukee police were called to the home Tuesday night. One hour after they arrived, the boy was pronounced dead.

His body was so badly malnourished and decomposed that the medical examiner’s office was unable to positively identify it at first.

Another one of Jacarie’s brothers had gone to the home Tuesday after police were called.

“We will never get to see our brother no more. My brother, for him to go see that scene, imagine what he’s going through,” he said.

The death was first ruled suspicious but is now being investigated as a homicide.

One day later, all the windows and doors of the house were covered with plywood.

Jacarie’s brother said the boy lived with his father, but Milwaukee police made no mention of anyone connected to the death, despite the homicide investigation.

“The question has always been there. Where he’s been and hoping to get him over there and see him, because we missed him,” Jordan Robinson said.

Neighbors near the home did not want to speak on camera. One of them only said they didn’t know the people who lived there.

For now, while they await answers, Jacarie’s family is trying to focus on what made the boy special.

“His smile. Everything about him. He’d come light up a whole room,” Jordan Robinson said. “You’d feel loved by him. He was a good kid.”

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