South Carolina police say they rescued an 11-month-old after the baby boy's father allegedly buried him alive about 24 hours earlier.
The infant was located Nov. 10 in a wooded area about 30 miles west of Columbia, South Carolina. He was found in a dog crate that had been wrapped in a towel, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a news conference broadcast by News 19 WLTX
, a CBS affiliate in Columbia.He was "buried alive, clinging to life, crying," Koon said. "The most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby."
Nearly 100 law enforcement officers, including some from the FBI, public safety officials and first responders had been searching for the lost child since midday on Nov. 9. The child had been in the care of his maternal grandmother,
but when she ran an errand, she left the boy with his father, Michael Comer, 25. Koon said when a caregiver arrived at the home, neither the baby nor Comer was there.
The father didn't have a vehicle; therefore, police couldn't issue an Amber Alert. However, Koon said subsequent video footage spotted Comer without the child.
'The race was on' in search for buried infant
During a search near Comer's father's home, Koon said you could hear the infant crying. "So as you imagine, the race was on. Everybody was getting down there trying to get him out," he added. Searchers found the child off the 300 block of Parthenon Road in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, about 1:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 10, police said.
The baby was taken to a local hospital, police said. The two-foot-by-two-foot dog crate was buried about a foot in the soil, according to Koon. The towel wrapping the crate may have "created an air pocket" allowing the infant to breathe, he added.
When they found the baby, he "was screaming at the top of his lungs, which is a good thing in the baby world, I would guess," said Koon, who didn't provide additional details about the baby's medical condition.
When the baby was found alive, News 19 WLTX reported that his grandmother, Patricia Comer, jumped out of her car and shouted, "He's alive!"
Police arrested Comer Nov. 9 in Batesburg-Leesville on burglary and resisting arrest charges. "He didn't have much to say about the whereabouts of the baby at that time," Koon said.
Comer was denied bond for the burglary charge and is being held in the Lexington County Detention Center. A bond hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12.
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads (mikegsnider), Bluesky (@mikegsnider.bsky.social), X (@mikesnider) and email him at msnider@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Father arrested after buried baby found 'clinging to life, crying'
