King Hill: Babysitter charged with murder over missing two-year-old boy

The babysitter of a missing two-year-old has been charged with murder after police and FBI investigators discovered cell phone and video evidence of the boy's death.

While King Hill remains missing, Philadelphia authorities arrested Tianna Parks, 24, on charges of murder, child endangerment and abuse of a corpse, among other charges two weeks after the child disappeared from the city's Strawberry Mansion neighbourhood.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said the toddler was in the care of Ms Parks before he was reported missing on 7 July.

"The death of King Hill is an unbearable tragedy that is compounded by Tianna Parks' actions. This precious baby's family and community deserve to know how he died. They deserve the opportunity to bury and mourn him with dignity," Mr Krasner said in a statement.

"This child deserved so much better in life. My office will continue to work alongside the Philadelphia Police and FBI to seek justice for his death."

While the nature of the phone and video evidence was not confirmed, the District Attorney's Office homicide chief, Anthony Voci, told a press conference on Monday that it showed that the boy had been killed by his babysitter.

"We don't right now have the mechanism of King Hill's death, we don't know the date of his death, and we don't know the location of his death, nor do we know where Ms Parks disposed of his body, but we know based on the evidence that we have that he was in fact killed by Ms Parks," he said.

While Mr Voci declined to discuss a possible motive, he said that virtually everything Ms Parks told investigators was refuted by the evidence.

The accused 24-year-old was a regular babysitter of the child, who police believe was last seen on either 4 or 5 July. Ms Parks allegedly told King's stepfather that she dropped off the child to his mother, Amber Hill, on 7 July.

Ms Hill said in a GoFundMe page that she left her son with a person she trusted, who in turn gave him to the babysitter.

"My son is dead. They have proof. They are not sure that his body will be fully recovered due to the circumstances surrounding the events that lead to his death," she wrote.

He would have celebrated his third birthday later this month.