Report: Trial expected this fall in Fort Drum soldier slaying

SUSSEX COUNTY, New Jersey (WWNY) - Two people accused of killing a Fort Drum soldier in New Jersey in 2020 will reportedly stand trial this fall.

The “Stars and Stripes” reports that trial for 24-year-old Army Spc. Jamaal Mellish and 17-year-old Hannan Aiken, both of Brooklyn, N.Y., is expected to start in late October or early November.

They’re accused of kidnapping and killing 20-year-old Cpl. Hayden Harris in December 2020.

Prosecutors say Mellish and Harris swapped vehicles in July 2020, but Harris was unhappy with the deal.

The two met up the following December to undo the deal, but Mellish had already sold the vehicle Harris had traded him.

That’s when Mellish and Aiken – who, according to “Stars and Stripes,” is Mellish’s girlfriend’s brother – allegedly bound and gagged Harris and drove him nearly 300 miles to New Jersey, where he was shot and killed.