BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, SC (LOOTPRESS) — An 11-month-old boy reported missing Monday was found alive Tuesday in a dog crate buried about a foot underground, authorities said. The boy’s father faces charges including attempted murder.
Searchers found Koah Sharp around 1:30 p.m. in a wooded area near his paternal grandfather’s home, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. About 50 yards into the woods, they spotted a patch of freshly disturbed dirt covered with pine straw. As they began digging, they heard the boy crying.
Koah was inside a roughly 2-foot-by-2-foot crate wrapped in a towel. Koon said the towel helped create a pocket of air and that cooler temperatures may also have helped the boy survive. Based on surveillance footage that showed his father without him Monday afternoon, the sheriff estimated Koah may have been underground for about 24 hours.
Koah was taken to a hospital and released Tuesday night. He is staying with family members and is expected to make a full recovery, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office said.
Koon said Koah’s father, 25-year-old Michael Comer, was supposed to watch him Monday morning while his paternal grandmother ran an errand. When another caregiver arrived, both Comer and the boy were gone. The grandmother, Patricia Comer, told WACH she called 911 after becoming concerned.
About 100 officers from multiple agencies joined the search. Investigators found belongings that appeared to be the boy’s inside his grandfather’s home, but neither Koah nor his father was there. Officers located Comer Monday night in an outbuilding in Batesburg-Leesville and arrested him on burglary and resisting arrest charges. The search for Koah continued into Tuesday.
The sheriff’s office said Comer faces charges of attempted murder, unlawful conduct toward a child, custodial interference and burglary. A bond hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive.
