Milwaukee police cancelled an Amber Alert after a mother and her 2 daughters were found dead inside a garage, a week after they were reported missing.
Police found the bodies of Amarah Banks, 26, and her daughters Camaria Banks, 4, and Zaniya Ivery, 5, in a garage on Sunday morning. The Amber Alert had been issued the day before – when Milwaukee police already knew they were deceased.
Banks’s boyfriend and Zaniya’s father, Arzel Ivery, provided information that led police to the bodies in the garage.
Ivery, 25, was charged with aggravated battery for allegedly assaulting Banks at her apartment on Saturday, Feb. 8, the day she and her children went missing.
On Friday, Feb. 7, Banks and her family attended the funeral for her 21-month-old son, Arzel Ivery Jr., who died of complications from bronchitis, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Ivery told police he went to Banks’s apartment after the funeral on Saturday, and he and Banks got into an argument, according to the criminal complaint.
Banks’ next-door neighbor said she heard a commotion that sounded like someone slamming a person against the wall. The neighbor told police she heard a woman screaming “No, no, I didn’t even do anything,” and “don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”
The neighbor said she heard a man’s voice accusing the woman of cheating on him.
Another witness told police she saw Banks running through the apartment building parking lot barefoot, wearing a funeral t-shirt and bleeding from the mouth. She reported seeing the woman’s boyfriend grab her and drag her back inside the apartment building, according to the criminal complaint.
The second witness also told police she heard the woman screaming “No, no, please don’t kill me!”
Someone called 911 to report a disturbance, but responding officers reported being unable to locate the 911 caller or any disturbance.
Banks’ family reported her and her daughters missing on Sunday, Feb. 9. According to Milwaukee police call logs obtained by WISN 12 News, police conducted a welfare check at Banks’ apartment, but no one was at home.
Police observed what appeared to be 2 small droplets of blood on a bed, and damage to a bedroom wall as if a person’s head impacted the wall.
On Thursday, Feb. 13, Banks’ brother contacted WISN 12 News seeking help finding his missing sister and his 2 nieces.
On Thursday, WISN 12 News asked Milwaukee police about the missing persons report via email. A Milwaukee police official told WISN 12 News the case was still under investigation, but it was “not a critical missing” persons case.
WISN 12 News interviewed Banks’ family members who begged the public for help finding her.
On Saturday, Feb. 15, at 3:41 a.m. in Memphis, Tennessee, Ivery flagged down an officer to talk about “the incident in Milwaukee.” Memphis officers arrested Ivery and contacted Milwaukee police who told them about his connection to a missing persons case.
Later that day, Milwaukee police issued an Amber Alert for Banks and her daughters – a week after they were first reported missing.
On Sunday, Feb. 16, officers conducted a search of a garage at a home in the 4700 block of West Burleigh Street in Milwaukee. The Amber Alert was cancelled after the 3 bodies were found.
Ivery was charged with aggravated assault. He waived extradition back to Milwaukee to face charges. His last known address is on the same block where the bodies were found, according to WISN 12 News.
