NEW LONDON, Conn. – A man has been convicted of manslaughter in the death of his 3-year-old son.

The child’s death launched a search of the Santee area back in 2004.

Allen James, 43, formerly of New London, had faced murder charges, but a New London jury on Tuesday convicted him of the lesser charge after deliberating one day, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities charged him with the death of 3-year-old Alquan White after his son’s remains were found in the trunk of a 1996 Cadillac Deville that was stopped for speeding in Waterford, Conn., in 2003.

James confessed to throwing the toddler across the room and manhandling him because he would not eat and kept trying to walk out the door. He had apparently been carrying around the remains since the child’s death in 2000 or 2001.

James later told police that he left the child’s corpse in his bed for several days before driving to Santee and trying without success to burn the remains. He then returned to Connecticut with the corpse and dismembered it, placing the remains in a suitcase with which he often traveled, according to police and court records.

In Orangeburg County, investigators searched a wooded area near Ballard’s Landing and behind the rest area along the southbound lane of Interstate 95.

James will be sentenced on Jan. 9. He faces up to 20 years in jail.

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