South Carolina father arrested after burying 11-month-old son alive in dog crate
An infant was found buried alive in a dog crate in South Carolina woods after 24 hours missing. His father, Michael Comer, 25, was arrested and held without bond.
Infant found buried alive in dog crate after 24-hour search in Lexington County
An 11-month-old boy was rescued from a shallow grave in woodland near his grandfather's home in Lexington County, South Carolina, after nearly 24 hours of searching by close to 100 first responders, pbs.org reports.
Koah Sharp was found "clinging to life" inside a dog crate wrapped in a towel, buried roughly a foot underground. Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon announced the discovery at a news conference Tuesday. "Certainly, God is good," Koon said. "He was screaming at the top of his lungs, which is a good thing in the baby world, I would guess."
The infant's father, Michael Comer, 25, was arrested and held without bond on a burglary charge. Koon said investigators were working with prosecutors to confirm further charges.
How Koah survived underground
The towel wrapped around the crate likely created an air pocket that allowed the boy to breathe, Sheriff Koon said. Cool temperatures may also have helped. Koah was transported to hospital following his rescue; his condition was not immediately known by Wednesday.
The search had been launched after Koah was reported missing Monday in Lexington County, just west of Columbia. Deputies described him publicly as a "bright boy with reddish blond hair" and said he had disappeared while his grandmother ran errands.
Authorities who searched the grandfather's property found the doors open and baby belongings inside, but neither Comer nor the child was present at the time. The subsequent ground search led rescuers to freshly disturbed soil in nearby woods, where they began digging and unearthed the crate.
Father had left child in his own care
According to Sheriff Koon, Koah had been in the care of Comer's mother. She needed to run an errand and left the boy with Comer while a second caregiver was on the way. "By the time the caregiver got there, Michael was gone, and Koah was gone with him," Koon said.
Surveillance footage from several businesses in the area showed Comer without the infant during Monday afternoon. He was located and arrested Monday night.
Koah's great-aunt, Amber Hammond, was present when the boy was freed from the crate. "We're better now that we know that Koah is safe," she told the Associated Press. Hammond said Comer had spoken about taking the baby to New York because "he didn't want to be in the same state as the mom." When Koah went missing, the family initially assumed Comer had handed the boy to someone. "We had no idea something like this would happen at all," Hammond said.
Prior domestic violence convictions
Lexington County online court records show Comer was sentenced to probation in October after pleading guilty to domestic violence and aggravated breach-of-peace charges stemming from an arrest in July. Prosecutors dropped a gun charge as part of the plea deal, and Comer received credit for more than two months already served in jail.
Sheriff Koon noted that Koah's parents "have had some situations" involving domestic violence charges. "Children," he said, "sometimes get caught in the middle."
It was not immediately known whether Comer had legal representation. The Associated Press was unable to locate a phone number for him and sent emails to the public defender and prosecutors seeking comment.
Hammond, who had cared for Koah the previous weekend, described the nearly one-year-old as a boy who had been trying to stand on his own and already had clear television preferences. "I'd go to feed him, and it had Mickey Mouse on," she said. "You can't feed him and have Mickey Mouse on at the same time."
Source: Google News MT