{"id":27656,"date":"2021-07-23T11:15:33","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T15:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=27656"},"modified":"2023-09-24T15:59:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T19:59:24","slug":"arrest-made-in-1988-killing-of-8-year-old-roswell-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=27656","title":{"rendered":"Arrest made in 1988 killing of 8-year-old Roswell boy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ROSWELL — The mystery surrounding the disappearance and death of an 8-year-old boy in Roswell<\/a> 33 years ago has been solved using DNA evidence, according to the Roswell Police Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police have arrested 56-year-old James Michael Coates, of Woodstock, for the 1988 slaying of 8-year old Joshua Harmon. Coates was taken into custody July 21 and booked into the Fulton County Jail on multiple charges including murder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roswell detectives arrested Coates after DNA evidence collected from the crime scene linked him to the murder. Police say Coates lived in the same apartment complex as Joshua and his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coates<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Case: <\/strong>On Sunday, May 15, 1988, 8-year-old, Joshua Harmon was reported missing to the Roswell Police Department by his mother. At the time of his murder, Joshua\u2019s family lived in an apartment complex called \u201cRoundtree Apartments.\u201d Today, that apartment complex is known as \u201cRiver Crossing at Roswell\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua regularly played outside in the area of his apartment building and the other buildings in the immediate vicinity. He searched for turtles around the lake in the complex and played in the \u201cfort\u201d in the woods behind his building. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 15, Joshua had been playing outside \u2014 both with friends and alone \u2014 all day. Joshua\u2019s mother recalls that he was in and out of the apartment throughout the day. When Joshua\u2019s mother started making dinner she asked her husband, Joshua\u2019s stepfather, to let Joshua know to stay close to home. When Joshua\u2019s stepfather could not find him, Joshua\u2019s mother called the Roswell Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A neighbor informed the family that Joshua had stopped by their residence at about 7 p.m. to ask if his child, Joshua\u2019s friend, could come outside to play. The family was spending time together and eating dinner so the boy could not come outside. Joshua told the neighbor that he was going to be waiting for the neighbor boy in the woods at the fort where the children commonly played together. This is the last reported sighting of Joshua alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After extensive searches over the next nearly 48 hours, Joshua Harmon\u2019s lifeless body was located in the woods of the apartment complex on Tuesday, May 17, 1988. Joshua was beaten and strangled to death. Joshua was buried under loose dirt and pine straw. Logs were placed on top of his body to conceal him from immediate discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cold Case Reopened: <\/strong>In February of 2021, with the permission of his family, Joshua\u2019s body was exhumed in hopes of identifying further evidence. In March, the GA Sexual Assault Kit Initiative taskforce, a subset of the GA Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, provided the Roswell Police Department with funding to pursue additional DNA testing on evidence from the crime scene. Recently, investigators received the results of that testing performed by an independent laboratory, CyberGenetics Inc., which linked Coates to the crime. He was taken into custody without incident during a morning traffic stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Charges: <\/strong>The full list of Coates\u2019 charges are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n