Search for missing autistic boy takes grim turn as father is arrested
DICKSON, Tenn. - The grandmother of a 5-year-old Tennessee boy is cooperating with police after her stepson was arrested and charged with the boy's murder, reports CBS affiliate WTVF.
Joe Clyde Daniels, a nonverbal boy with autism, was reported missing by his parents on April 4th, prompting a massive search involving multiple law enforcement agencies and hundreds of volunteers. His father, 28-year-old Joseph Ray Daniels, was arrested and charged Saturday with one count of criminal homicide, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Daniels admitted to killing the boy and hiding his body, according to the TBI. By Sunday, the rescue mission had turned into a recovery effort; the boy's remains have yet to be found, the station reports.
Belle Daniels, the boy's grandmother, told WTVF reporters that she doesn't know why her stepson would have committed the alleged crime.
"It's shocking because you raise a child from way back, and you think you know him. You don't think he would kill his own baby," she said.
Belle was out of state with her truck driver husband when Joe was first reported missing, and returned just before her stepson's arrest.
Investigators determined that Daniels' son, Joe Clyde Daniels, was killed sometime Tuesday night or early Wednesday in the family's residence, the TBI said. The father then hid his son's body, the agency said.
Police and volunteers had searched for three days near the child's home in Dickson County in central Tennessee.
TBI said its agents opened a criminal investigation on Friday at the request of District Attorney General Ray Crouch. As the search continued, the community rallied and prayed that the boy would be found.
A special prayer service in honor of the boy drew hundreds to a local Baptist church on Sunday night, reports The Tennessean.
Authorities said the father was booked into the Dickson County Jail Saturday where he was being held on a $1 million bond.
