LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — A South Carolina baby survived after he was buried alive in a dog crate for 24 hours. Deputies have arrested and charged his father.
Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said it was the “by grace of God” that deputies found the 11-month-old alive.
“Clinging to life, he was crying the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby,” Koon said during a Tuesday news conference.
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The baby disappeared on Monday after deputies say his father, Michael Comer, took him from his mother’s home. Deputies later found Comer and arrested him on burglary and resisting arrest charges.
Comer didn’t have his son with him and deputies said he wouldn’t tell them where the baby was.
Deputies went to Comer’s father’s home, where they found both doors open and baby belongings inside, Koon said. A search party found pine straw and freshly disturbed dirt about 50 yards in the woods near the home.
“We searched that with our crime scene tech, our crime scene SLED, and FBI folks, and as they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying,” Koon said. “So as you can imagine, the race was on.”
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Investigators got to him in time. They found him wrapped in a towel inside what the sheriff described as a dog crate with wire slats.
Koon said the towel likely created an air pocket that helped the baby survive and the cold weather may have helped.
“He was screaming at the top of his lungs, which is a good thing in the baby world, I would guess,” the sheriff said.
Paramedics took the baby to a hospital after crews pulled him from the ground, Koon said. Deputies believe he had been buried for about 24 hours.
Koon said investigators are still in the early stages of the case and are working with the solicitor’s office to decide what charges Comer could face next.
He said he hopes the baby makes a full recovery.
“And hopefully at 11 months old, he will not remember much of this as he grows older, just to have a great inspiring story to tell,” Koon said.
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