Warning: Graphic content A South Carolina infant who authorities say was taken by his father was found alive Tuesday, buried in a dog crate in the woods after apparently spending about 24 hours underground, officials said. Eleven-month-old Koah Sharpe was discovered buried beneath roughly a foot of dirt with a towel wrapped around the wire crate, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. He was rushed to a hospital after the rescue. The boy was “clinging to life, crying,” Koon said at a news conference Tuesday. “It was the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby,” he added. The night before the rescue, the boy’s father, Michael Comer, 25, was arrested on charges of burglary and resisting arrest, Koon said. Investigators are working with prosecutors on additional charges Comer could face, the sheriff said. CNN is working to determine whether Comer has legal representation. Koah had been in the care of his paternal grandmother Monday when Comer came over, Koon said. The grandmother went to run an errand and left Koah with Comer while another caregiver was on the way. When that caregiver arrived, Comer and the baby were gone. Deputies were called around lunchtime Monday and after some investigation went to a home where Comer’s father lives, Koon said. They found the doors open and the baby’s belongings inside – but no sign of the child or his father. Investigators obtained video showing Comer at several locations without the baby as authorities searched for the pair Monday, according to Koon. “Certainly we got worried, hoping and praying that he dropped the baby with another person,” the sheriff said. “As the day went on and nobody came forward, it was certainly more and more concerning.” Comer was found later that night in an outbuilding at a property in Batesburg and arrested, Koon said. But Koah was not with him. The urgent search for the baby continued into Tuesday, involving nearly 100 law enforcement officers and other public safety personnel. Eventually a search team noticed freshly disturbed dirt in pine straw about 50 yards (46 metres) into the woods near the home of Comer’s father, Koon said. As investigators began searching the site and digging, they heard the baby crying. “As you imagine, the race was on. Everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out,” Koon said. The baby was pulled from the buried crate and “screaming at the top of his lungs,” Koon said. Koon estimated the child was underground for about 24 hours. He said the towel around the wire crate “probably created an air pocket.” CNN has reached out to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department for an update on Koah’s condition and information on additional charges. CNN has also sought information from prosecutors and court officials. By Martin Goillandeau, CNN
