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An 11-month-old baby is “clinging to life” after he was found buried alive in a dog crate in South Carolina, over 24 hours after he was allegedly taken by his deadbeat dad.
Little Koah Sharpe was found locked inside a dog crate that was wrapped in a towel and buried in a shallow hole on Tuesday, over a day after he was last seen with his father, 25-year-old Michael Comer, WIS 10 reported, citing Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon.
“By the grace of God, [the crate] probably provided enough air for him to survive our estimation of the last 24 hours under that dirt,” Koon told reporters Tuesday.
Comer’s mother had been babysitting Koah before briefly leaving him in his father’s care in the morning while another caregiver was en route.
“By the time the caregiver got there, Michael was gone and Koah was gone with him,” the sheriff said.
Koah’s other relatives filed a missing person report Monday afternoon, but an Amber Alert was never issued as Comer does not have access to a car, the local sheriff said.
“To be able to issue an Amber Alert, you have to have a known description of a car and a license plate to put that out,” Koon said.
The Justice Department requires law enforcement agencies to have enough descriptive details about the child, suspect and abduction — often including license plate numbers — for an Amber Alert to be issued.
More than 100 first responders from local, state and federal agencies searched for the missing baby, Koon said.
Koah’s belongings were found at Comer’s residence Monday afternoon, where both doors to the home were left open — but there was no sign of the father or son.
Investigators believe Comer was in multiple locations across the county on Monday and was “bumming rides, calling rides, just getting rides from place to place,” the sheriff noted.
Later that night, cops found Comer in a shed in Batesburg and arrested him for burglary and resisting arrest.
“Of course, he didn’t have much to say about the whereabouts of the baby at that time,” Koon said.
The next day, “freshly disturbed dirt” and pine straw were found by authorities searching near Comer’s house, about 50 yards into woodland.
Once cops started to dig, they started to hear Koah cry.
“So as you imagine, the race was on,” Koon said of the heart-pounding rescue. “Everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out.”
Koah was buried in a 2-by-2-foot crate in a shallow hole for around 24 hours by the time he was found, the sheriff said.
“He was screaming at the top of his lungs, which is a good thing in the baby world, I would guess,” the sheriff noted.
Koon believes because the crate was wrapped in a towel, it “probably created an air pocket, if you can imagine.”
The baby boy remains “clinging to life” in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon, but Koon is hopeful he will “make a full recovery.”
“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 added.
Comer was still behind bars as of Tuesday afternoon — with additional charges related to Koah’s disappearance to be determined.
A motive was not immediately known, said Koon, who noted there had been prior domestic violence incidents between Comer and Koah’s mother.
His arrest Monday comes just one month after he was put on probation following a guilty plea for aggravated breach of peace, the local station reported, citing court records.
Earlier this year, he was also busted for domestic violence and a weapons-related offense.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788.
