The father of an 11-month-old boy who was rescued after being buried alive in a dog crate in South Carolina has been charged with attempted murder, authorities said Wednesday.
Michael Comer, who had been in custody since Monday, was formally charged a day after 11-month-old Koah Sharpe was found “clinging to life” after, according to police, his father put him in the ground.
Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said Tuesday that the infant had been wrapped in a towel inside the dog crate and buried just beneath the surface for about 24 hours.
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“Certainly, God is good,” Sheriff Koon said, who noted that Koah was “crying the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby.”
The boy was released from the hospital Tuesday night and was being cared for by relatives. The sheriff said Wednesday that he is expected to make a full recovery.
Investigators launched the search Monday afternoon after the baby and his 25-year-old father were not located at the home of Comer’s mother, Patricia Comer.
The baby’s grandmother had scheduled for a caregiver to come watch the infant, but, by the time they arrived, Comer and the baby were both gone. The sheriff said they found Comer in the Batesburg-Leesville area Monday night, but Koah was not with him.
Authorities said they gathered a nearly 100-man search party of first responders. By Tuesday afternoon, the search crew found “freshly disturbed” dirt about 50 yards into the woods behind the grandmother’s home.
“As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying,” Sheriff Koon said. “As you imagine, the race was on, everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out.”
Columbia CBS affiliate WLTX reported that, when Ms. Comer learned Koah had been found, she jumped out of her car and shouted, “he’s alive!”
Comer was taken into custody Monday and immediately charged with burglary and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to probation in October after pleading guilty to domestic violence and aggravated breach-of-peace charges related to a July incident.
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