Missing South Carolina Infant Survives Burial in Dog Crate

An eleven-month-old boy in South Carolina was rescued alive on Tuesday after spending roughly twenty-four hours buried beneath the ground inside a dog crate wrapped in a towel, according to local law enforcement.

The infant, Koah Sharpe, disappeared on Monday after his father, twenty-five-year-old Michael Comer, took him from a home where the child had been left in his care during an errand.

Officers arrested Comer on Monday night following a search that spanned multiple locations across Lexington County, leading authorities to launch an extensive rescue operation for the missing child.

Sheriff Bryan Koon said at a news conference that searchers noticed newly turned dirt in a wooded area approximately fifty yards from the home of the suspect's father.

Rescuers heard the infant crying as they began digging into the earth, prompting immediate efforts to free him from the underground enclosure.

“Certainly God is good. Just a few moments ago, we found little Koah, 11 months old, buried alive, clinging to life, crying – the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby,” said Sheriff Jay Koon at the briefing.

“So, as you imagine, the race was on. Everybody's getting down there, trying to get him out,” Koon said.

Medical personnel examined the infant at a hospital after the rescue, and officials expect him to make a full recovery from the ordeal.

Investigators reported that the towel wrapped around the crate likely supplied enough oxygen for the baby to endure twenty-four hours beneath the soil.

Court records show that Comer received a probation sentence in October after admitting guilt to domestic violence and aggravated breach-of-peace offenses stemming from a July arrest, according to the Associated Press.

The grandmother of the child, Patricia Comer, expressed shock over the incident during an interview with NBC News, stating that she never anticipated such actions from her son.

Arrest warrants show that authorities charged Comer with attempted murder, unlawful conduct toward a child, custodial interference, and burglary, while the sheriff's department continues to coordinate with prosecutors regarding additional charges.