An 11-month-old South Carolina boy who authorities say was buried alive in a dog crate by his father was discovered by rescuers roughly 24 hours later—crying and coated in dirt, according to his grandfather, who described the dramatic rescue.
Soon after being found, little Koah Sharp stopped crying, John Comer told the Associated Press on Wednesday evening, recounting events that unfolded the previous day in the woods on a neighbor’s property. The infant was placed on the back of a truck, where he sat up, Comer said.
“I became ecstatic, my hands straight in the air. I’m looking in the sky, jumping up and down, praising God,” Comer said. “And at the same time I hit my knees and I’m just crying.”
Koah was released from a hospital Tuesday night and is expected to make a full recovery, Sheriff Jay Koon said.
The boy’s father, 25-year-old Michael Comer, has been charged with attempted murder. John Comer said he had taken in his son and grandson on Monday after Michael said the two needed a place to stay.
Michael Comer has been in custody since Monday, when Koah went missing. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive. In October, he was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to domestic violence.
Koah’s parents “have had some situations,” the sheriff said.
“Children,” he added, “sometimes get caught in the middle.”
Survival aided by cool temperatures and a towel
Dozens of first responders combed the rural area in search of the boy with reddish-blond hair. After a full day of searching, investigators found freshly disturbed soil and heard cries coming from underground, the sheriff said.
“As you can imagine, the race was on. Everyone was trying to get him out,” Koon said.
The boy likely survived thanks to cool temperatures and an air pocket created by a towel wrapped around the crate beneath the ground, he explained.
Koah was soon freed and “clinging to life,” the sheriff told reporters.
Michael Comer was arrested while hiding in a building in Batesburg-Leesville. It was not immediately known whether he had retained an attorney to respond to the charges. A court hearing was scheduled for Thursday.
“We’re better now that we know that Koah is safe,” his great-aunt, Amber Hammond, told the Associated Press as she watched him being pulled from the crate.
Authorities said Koah had been in the care of Michael Comer’s mother. She stepped out on an errand, leaving the boy with her son 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.
Surveillance footage from several nearby businesses showed Comer without the baby on Monday afternoon, according to Koon.
John Comer said he felt exploited when his son asked to stay with him. Yet he also counts himself fortunate that he agreed, reasoning that had the two gone elsewhere, the boy might not have been found in time.
“It just seems like he already had this planned out, and he knew what he was doing,” Comer said. “And he took the opportunity to do what he did. And if it hadn’t have been here, I don’t think anybody would have known where he would have went, and this would be a completely different story.”
Michael Comer had spoken of taking the boy out of state.
Hammond said her nephew had talked about taking the baby to New York because “he didn’t want to be in the same state as the mom.” When Koah disappeared, she and others assumed Comer had handed the boy off to someone.
“We had no idea something like this would happen at all,” Hammond said.
According to Lexington County online court records, Michael Comer was sentenced to probation in October after pleading guilty to domestic violence and aggravated breach-of-peace charges stemming from a July arrest. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a gun charge, and he received credit for more than two months already served in jail.
At nearly a year old, Koah has been practicing standing on his own, said Hammond, who looked after him the previous weekend. He also loves watching Mickey Mouse cartoons.
John Comer said he had never heard his grandson cry before the boy was found underground.
“He’s always been happy,” he said. “The kid’s always got a smile on his face.”