Trapped in a dog crate and entombed beneath a foot of dirt, a South Carolina infant miraculously survived 24 hours buried underground, authorities say.
Koah Sharp was unearthed Tuesday “clinging to life” and “screaming at the top of his lungs,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. “It was the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby.”
The sheriff’s department previously gave a different spelling of Koah’s last name.
A frantic search unfolded after the 11-month-old and his father, Michael Comer, vanished late Monday morning, Koon said.
Koah had been in the care of his paternal grandmother when Comer came over Monday. The grandmother went to run an errand and left Koah with his father until another caregiver, who was on the way, arrived. By the time the caregiver got there, the father and son had vanished.
About 100 law enforcement officers and other personnel scoured central South Carolina for any sign of Koah or his father. By Monday afternoon, surveillance footage captured the 25-year-old father at several businesses – but without his baby.
Investigators found Comer holed up in an outbuilding in Batesburg-Leesville on Monday night and arrested him on charges of burglary and resisting arrest, Koon said. Again, his baby was nowhere to be found.
The next day, while searching an area near the home of Comer’s father, investigators noticed freshly disturbed dirt in pine straw about 50 yards into the woods, Koon said.
As they started digging, they heard a baby crying.
“The race was on,” Koon said. “Everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out.”
Koah was found buried in a 2-foot-by-2-foot dog crate that was wrapped in a towel, which “probably created an air pocket,” the sheriff said.
He was rescued and taken to an undisclosed hospital. The sheriff’s department did not confirm Koah’s condition Wednesday but told CNN it would release more information later in the day.
As for his father, investigators are working with prosecutors to confirm charges against Comer, the sheriff’s department said Wednesday. It was not clear whether he has legal representation. Comer remains in custody and has a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Koon said he doesn’t know why the infant was buried underground. But “hopefully, at 11 months old, he will not remember much of this as he grows older.”
The-CNN-Wire
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