William DaShawn Hamilton / “Dennis”

Dennis is the nickname given to the body of an unidentified child who was found near a Church Cemetery in Decatur, Georgia on the 26th of February, 1999.

The child’s body was discovered as skeletal remains, but he seemed to be well cared for and may have lived in either Georgia or northern Florida.

The child’s cause of death has never been fully determined, but some have speculated that as he had cold medicine in his system he may have fallen ill, and for whatever reason, his parents placed him in the cemetery after his death.

In October of 1999, a woman named “Dawn Anderson” called the coroner’s office and stated that the child’s name was Cabell Brown. Due to the quality of the phone call, and the woman’s emotional state, the child’s name may be different from what was recorded.

Police managed to trace the phone call to the Florida Institution of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. Still, they were unable to locate anyone using the woman’s name or any report of a missing child with the same name.

Dennis is described as being a black male, between the ages of 4-8 years old and standing at around 3″ – 4″2′. He weighed between 45 and 60 pounds.

Dennis has remained unidentified for 23 years.

On the 13th of July, 2022, the Dekalb County District Attorney’s Office announced that they had managed to formally identify the child as William DaShawn Hamilton. William’s mother, 45-year-old Teresa Ann Bailey Black, has been charged with two counts of Felony Murder, two counts of cruelty to children, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.

The break in William’s case came from someone who knew Teresa and William, who had called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1998 and had never given up looking for him.

Ava, whose last name is private, said that when Teresa and William used to live in Charlotte, North Carolina, she was very close with them and would often look after William. Ava has described William as being a “fun, witty, adventurous and intelligent little boy who loved to dance.”

You can read the blog post from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children’s website about William here.

Reconstruction of Dennis. Credit: Unidentified Awareness Fandom / National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

The Hoodie/Jumper Dennis was wearing. Credit: Unidentified Awareness Fandom / National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Tags:

Unidentified, Unidentified Person, John Doe, Child, Georgia, Decatur, 1999, True Crime, Mystery, Strange, Identified