Eleven-year-old Austin Gee, a white male child, died on Monday, September 21, 2009, at his residence in Beason, Illinois. Born on January 22, 1998, Austin was a student at Chester East Lincoln School and lived in a small blended-family household in the tiny central Illinois town of Beason. His death was part of a tragic family massacre that also claimed the lives of his father, mother, and two of his siblings, and left his youngest sister severely injured.
Austin Gee’s gender age and ethnicity appear implicitly through genealogical records and community references describing the family and their blended background. On that same evening, authorities discovered the bodies of Raymond “Rick” Gee, age 46, his wife Ruth Gee, age 39, their 16-year-old daughter Justina Constant, and their 14-year-old son Dillen Constant. All had been brutally killed in the family home in what was described as “blunt force trauma” or “bludgeoning” injuries. Eleven-year-old Austin Gee was found in the bathroom, having suffered eight heavy blows that left both sides of his skull caved in. The youngest child in the household, three-year-old Tabitha Gee was found alive and severely beaten. She survived, having sustained multiple skull fractures and brain swelling.
During the early search, law enforcement urged residents in and around Beason to lock their doors and remain alert while they hunted for the perpetrator or perpetrators. No arrests were immediately made on September 22, and officials could not initially confirm whether any suspects were within their community. The grim discovery prompted a heightened sense of urgency and fear among nearby residents.
Detectives soon turned their attention to Christopher Harris the estranged husband of the family’s eldest daughter, Nicole Gee. Evidence began to point to Harris as the perpetrator: a bloody handprint found in the bathroom where Austin had been killed matched Christopher Harris. Additionally, a distinctive shoe print outside the home matched a pair of aggressive-tread K-Swiss shoes that Harris was later observed wearing in the hospital as he visited the surviving three-year-old Tabitha, who was being treated for her injuries. Investigators also recovered a tire iron believed to be the murder weapon, as well as the missing family computer, which had been hidden in Harris’s pickup truck. Christopher’s brother, Jason Harris initially provided an alibi, but later cooperated with law enforcement.
As the investigation moved forward, the Harris brothers were arrested and charged. Christopher Harris faced multiple counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder, home invasion, robbery, and attempted sexual assault. Jason Harris was charged with obstruction of justice and concealment of evidence, among other offenses. In court, Jason turned state’s witness and provided testimony implicating Christopher in the brutal attack. According to his account, the brothers had been drinking and had driven to the Gee residence after Christopher, on cocaine, decided to confront Justina. In that scenario, Jason claimed he remained in the vehicle while his brother entered the home with the tire iron, emerging later having committed the murders. He said he witnessed Dillen attempting to escape and being beaten again before going back inside. Afterward, Christopher discarded his shoes and the tire iron during the drive away.
In May 2013, a jury found Christopher Harris guilty on five counts of first-degree murder and related charges. He received five consecutive natural life sentences, along with additional prison time for the attempted murder of Tabitha, home invasion, and robbery. Through a plea agreement, Jason Harris was sentenced to ten years for obstruction of justice, concealment of homicide, and related charges.
Three-year-old Tabitha, the survivor of the attack, eventually recovered after extensive treatment. She was placed in foster care, received counseling, and was later adopted into a supportive family. The family home, site of the murders, was burned down in a controlled burn days later by the local fire department, with approval from the environmental authorities.
Thus, eleven-year-old Austin Gee, a white male child, was among five killed in a horrific family mass murder on September 21, 2009. The perpetrator, his former brother-in-law Christopher Harris, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, while his brother Jason received a lesser sentence for aiding in covering up the crime.
