Batesburg, South Carolina: Father Charged With Attempted Murder After Baby Koah Sharpe Found Alive in Buried Dog Crate

Updated 05:20 UTC, Nov. 12: Father charged with attempted murder

The father of the 11-month-old found alive in a buried dog crate has been charged with attempted murder. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department said in a news release on Wednesday that Michael Comer, 25, of Gaston, faces charges of attempted murder, unlawful conduct toward a child, custodial interference and burglary, citing arrest warrants in the case, CNN and USA Today reported.

Koah was released from the hospital on Tuesday night and is with family members, the sheriff's department said. His medical team told investigators he is expected to make a full recovery.

Comer remains in custody at the Lexington County Detention Center, and a bond hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, the sheriff's office said. CNN reported it was not clear whether Comer has a lawyer. The sheriff has not announced a motive.

An 11-month-old boy was found alive on Tuesday afternoon after spending about 24 hours buried underground in a wire dog crate in woods in Lexington County, Sheriff Jay Koon said at a news conference in Batesburg.

Koah Sharpe was inside a crate that measured about two feet by two feet, wrapped in a towel and covered by about a foot of dirt, about 50 yards into a wooded area near Parthenon Road, Koon said. Emergency crews took him straight to a hospital. WRDW reported that doctors said he is expected to make a full recovery.

Heard crying in the dirt

Nearly 100 law enforcement officers and public safety workers took part in the search, Koon said. Crime scene investigators working with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the FBI noticed freshly disturbed earth in the woods and began to dig with care.

"As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying," Koon said. "Eleven months old, buried alive, clinging to life, crying." He called the cries "the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby."

Koon said investigators think the towel wrapped around the crate may have helped trap an air pocket that kept the child alive. Temperatures in the area were estimated at around 40 degrees.

A day with his father

Koah had been in the care of his paternal grandmother on Monday, investigators said. When she left to run an errand, the child was left with his father, who is 25, while another caregiver was on the way. When the caregiver arrived, both father and son were gone. Father and son were last seen together around 11 a.m. on Monday, and Koah was reported missing later that day.

Deputies went to the home of the father's father on Parthenon Road and found the doors open and the baby's belongings inside, but no sign of either of them. Koon said surveillance footage later showed the father at several businesses in the Batesburg-Leesville area without the infant.

Deputies found the father on Monday night, around 10:30 p.m., hiding in an outbuilding at a home off Columbia Avenue in Batesburg, and arrested him on charges of burglary and resisting arrest, the Lexington Ledger reported. Koah was not with him, and Koon said the father gave investigators little information about where the child was.

No Amber Alert, and charges still to come

Koon said no Amber Alert was issued because investigators had no vehicle description or license plate to put in an alert. The father has no vehicle and was getting rides from other people and from transport services, which also made his movements hard to track across Lexington County on Monday, the sheriff said.

WRDW reported, citing court records, that the father was placed on probation just over a month ago after pleading guilty to aggravated breach of peace, and that records also show arrests earlier this year involving domestic violence and a weapons charge.

Authorities have not announced a motive, and they have not said who buried the child. Koon said his office is working with the solicitor's office to decide what additional charges are appropriate. The investigation is continuing.