FAMILY TRAGEDY: UNSOLVED & UNKNOWN IN MIAMI-DADE
THE MURDERS OF CARMEN ELENA HARRIS AND DEMARCO HARRIS
Miami-Dade County, Florida — 2003 & 2024
When DeMarco Harris was 3 years old, tragedy entered his life in the most violent way imaginable.
His mother, Carmen Elena Harris, had just achieved a major milestone. On May 3, 2003, Carmen graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Criminal Justice. She was a young mother with a future she worked hard for and a child she deeply loved.
On May 26, 2003, Carmen went to South Beach with friends. They dropped her off at her home in the early morning hours at 19141 NW 19th Avenue in Miami-Dade County.
Not long after arriving home, Carmen called 911 and reported that someone had broken into her house.
Officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department responded to the scene and made a devastating discovery. Carmen had been stabbed multiple times. Outside, her 3-year-old son DeMarco was found playing alone in the front yard.
Carmen Elena Harris was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center, where she was pronounced deceased.
Her homicide was never solved.
DeMarco was raised by his grandmother and aunts, growing up with the shadow of violence and unanswered questions surrounding his mother’s death.
More than twenty years later, history repeated itself.
On May 9, 2024, at approximately 4:00 a.m., officers responded to North Miami Avenue near NW 35th Street after receiving two ShotSpotter alerts.
DeMarco Harris was now 24 years old.
He was working as a ride-share driver in the Midtown neighborhood of Miami when he was shot multiple times. Family members believe the shooting occurred during an attempt to take his vehicle.
DeMarco was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center — the same hospital where his mother died in 2003.
He did not survive.
His homicide remains unsolved.
Once again, the Harris family is left grieving, carrying trauma layered across generations, and searching for answers that never came.
Carmen Elena Harris’s murder remains unsolved.
DeMarco Harris’s murder remains unsolved.
If you have any information regarding the 2003 homicide of Carmen Elena Harris or the 2024 homicide of her son, DeMarco Harris, please contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477. A $5,000 reward is being offered for information related to the death of DeMarco Harris.
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