Man who killed boy on Indian reservation, burned the body, gets 40-year prison sentence

5/22/2014

BAY CITY, Mich. — A young man who killed a 4-year-old boy on an American Indian reservation in central Michigan has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison, the maximum under his plea agreement.

Anthony Bennett appeared in federal court in Bay City today, months after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and admitting he killed Carnel Chamberlain.

The 22-year-old Bennett lived with Carnel and the boy’s mother on the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Reservation, near Mount Pleasant. Carnel was killed in 2012.

Murder cases are uncommon in federal court. But the U.S. government has jurisdiction over major crimes on Indian reservations.

Police and volunteers searched for a week before Carnel’s remains were found under his house. The body was badly burned.