A baby’s cries from beneath the ground led rescuers to an extraordinary discovery in South Carolina.
The 11-month-old had been gone for 24 hours. Nearly 100 officers from multiple agencies had been searching for him. With authorities racing against the clock, they held one key piece of information: Koah Sharp’s father was the last person to be with him.
As a search party combed through the South Carolina woods near the home of the baby’s grandfather, a patch of freshly disturbed dirt covered with pine straw caught their attention. When investigators started probing the patch, a sound rang out that was both eerie and relieving — the shrill cries of a baby screaming at the top of his lungs.
Koah was found about a foot underground in a dog crate wrapped in a towel, which miraculously provided a small pocket of air to breathe, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said Tuesday.
Authorities say his father, Michael Comer, was the last person to be with the baby and is now facing criminal charges including attempted murder.
Here is what we know so far about how Koah, a “bright boy” with reddish blond hair who often has a pacifier, survived.
Baby taken from grandmother’s home
On Monday morning, Koah was in the care of his paternal grandmother when his 25-year-old father came over, according to Koon. She left to run an errand, he said, and Comer was supposed to stay with the child until another caretaker came over. But when the caretaker got there, there was no Koah or Comer.
“I had a bad feeling that something was not right,” Patricia Comer, Koah’s paternal grandmother, told CNN affiliate WACH. She told the station she became concerned and called 911.
The disappearance resulted in a mᴀssive law enforcement search from multiple agencies, with about 100 law enforcement officers desperately trying to locate the baby.
Authorities went up to Comer’s father’s house, which is “right up the street” from his mother’s house, and found the doors open with “baby belongings in the house, but no sign of Michael or the baby,” the sheriff said. Since Comer didn’t have a car, they were unable to issue an Amber Alert, Koon said, and they continued the urgent search to find Koah.
Authorities found surveillance footage of Comer on Monday afternoon, but without his infant child, according to Koon.
Law enforcement officers found Comer Monday night in an outbuilding in Batesburg-Leesville and arrested him on charges of burglary and resisting arrest.
Again, Koah was nowhere to be found.
How was the baby found?
Around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, a search party continued looking for the 11-month-old near Comer’s father’s house, where they had visited Monday. Not far from the home, about 50 yards into the woods, a disturbed dirt patch prompted investigators to look further.
“And as they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying,” Koon said.
“So, as you imagine, the race was on. Everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out,” he said.
Koah was found buried in a 2-foot-by-2-foot dog crate that was wrapped in a towel as the baby was “clinging to life, crying,” he said.
“The most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby,” Koon said.
Koon estimated that Koah was likely under the ground for about 24 hours based on security footage that showed Comer without the baby. The towel the crate was wrapped in created a bubble that gave the baby enough air to survive, which, in combination with cooler temperatures, gave Koah a fighting chance, Koon said.
The area saw temperatures reach as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Koah was immediately taken to a local hospital, Koon said. He was released Tuesday night and is expected to make a full recovery, the sheriff’s office said, adding that the baby is staying with family members.
What we know about the father
Comer is facing charges of attempted murder, unlawful conduct toward a child, custodial interference and burglary, according to the sheriff’s office.
Koon said “there were obviously some issues” recently between Comer and Koah’s mother, but didn’t specify what they were.
Comer pleaded guilty earlier this year to criminal charges including ᴀssault and battery and domestic violence, South Carolina court records show. Details of the charges and who they involved are unknown.
Comer remains in custody and was denied bond on Thursday morning, according to The ᴀssociated Press. An attorney for Comer has not yet been appointed.
Comer showed no remorse for attempting to kill his son and tried to flee the state, Tyler Douglas, lead investigator for the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, told Judge Gary W. Reinhart, the AP reported. Reinhart approved a public defender for Comer and set a hearing for December 10.
Authorities have yet to suggest a motive for the alleged crimes.
But “hopefully, at 11 months old, he will not remember much of this as he grows older,” Koon said.
