Father of boy who survived being buried alive is charged with attempted murder

An 11-month-old boy named Koah Sharp was rescued Tuesday after spending about 24 hours buried alive in a dog crate in the woods of Lexington County, South Carolina. Sheriff Jay Koon said rescuers located the infant after discovering freshly disturbed soil and hearing cries coming from underground. The boy was found "clinging to life" but was released from the hospital Tuesday night and is expected to make a full recovery. Koon credited cool temperatures and an air pocket created by a towel wrapped around the crate for the child's survival.

The boy's father, 25-year-old Michael Comer, has been charged with attempted murder. He was taken into custody Monday while hiding in a building in Batesburg-Leesville, the same day the child disappeared. Authorities have not disclosed a motive, though court records show Comer was sentenced to probation in October after pleading guilty to domestic violence. A court hearing was scheduled for Thursday.

Koah had been in the care of Comer's mother, who left the infant with her son while she ran an errand and another caregiver was en route. By the time the caregiver arrived, both Comer and the boy were gone. Surveillance video from area businesses later showed Comer without the child on Monday afternoon. The boy's great-aunt, Amber Hammond, said Comer had previously talked about taking the baby to New York because "he didn't want to be in the same state as the mom."

John Comer, the suspect's father and the boy's grandfather, said he had opened his home to his son and grandson on Monday after Michael said they needed a place to stay. He described the moment Koah was found, saying, "I became ecstatic, my hands straight in the air. I'm looking in the sky, jumping up and down, praising God. And at the same time I hit my knees and I'm just crying." John Comer said he feels his son took advantage of his hospitality and appeared to have planned the abduction.

Hammond said the family initially assumed Comer had given the boy to someone else. "We had no idea something like this would happen at all," she said. John Comer added that if they had gone somewhere else, "I don't think anybody would have known where he would have went, and this would be a completely different story."

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal