Baby found "clinging to life" after being buried in crate for 24 hours

A baby was found alive in South Carolina, after apparently being buried in a dog crate for about 24 hours, authorities said Tuesday.

Eleven-month-old Koah Sharpe had been missing since Monday, when he was taken by his father, Michael Comer,  according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. Comer traveled to multiple locations around Lexington County, the sheriff said, citing investigators. He was arrested on a burglary charge by county deputies on Monday night, but his son wasn't with him at the time.

Sharpe was located inside the crate, which was wrapped in a towel, about 50 yards from the home belonging to his grandfather, who is also Comer's father, Sheriff Jay Koon said at a news conference. Search parties, involving almost 100 law enforcement and public safety officers, had been scouring the area for the infant since he went missing. One group spotted what Koon described as a patch of "freshly disturbed dirt" in a wooded area, Koon said.

As officers started digging, they could hear Sharpe cry, said Koon.

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

The officers discovered Sharpe "clinging to life," according to Koon, who called the infant's cries "the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby."

The infant was immediately taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

Koon said that Sharpe had been in the care of his grandmother, Patricia Comer, on Monday. Michael  Comer stayed with the baby at her house while she went out to run an errand, and, by the time a scheduled caregiver arrived shortly after, Comer was gone with his son. 

CBS affiliate WLTX reported that, when Patricia Comer learned the infant had been found, she jumped out of her car and shouted, "He's alive!"

The investigation into what happened to Sharpe was still in its early stages when Koon spoke at Tuesday's conference, and the sheriff said his department was working with the solicitor's office to determine which charges, if any, would be filed in the case.