'God Is Good': Missing South Carolina Baby Found Alive After Searchers Hear Him Crying Beneath the Ground

An 11-month-old boy who vanished in South Carolina's Lexington County on Monday was found alive Tuesday afternoon, buried in a crate in the woods, after searchers heard him crying, authorities said.

The child was found about 50 yards from his paternal grandfather's home on Parthenon Road in the Batesburg-Leesville area, The Post and Courier reported. Officials estimate he had been buried for about 24 hours.

"It was the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby," Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said, according to CNN.

According to WIS, the boy had been left in the care of his father, Michael Comer, 25, for a short time on Monday. When the next caregiver arrived, both were gone. The child was last seen around 11 a.m., and a missing-person report was made around 3 p.m., WRDW reported.

Deputies who went to Comer's father's home found the doors open and the baby's belongings inside, but no one there, WIS reported. No Amber Alert was issued because Comer had no vehicle that investigators could describe to the public.

Around 10:30 p.m. Monday, deputies found Comer in a shed off Columbia Avenue in Batesburg and arrested him; the child was not with him, WRDW and The Post and Courier reported. Video recorded early Tuesday showed Comer moving around the Batesburg-Leesville area without the baby, The Post and Courier reported.

Nearly 100 searchers joined the effort, ABC News reported, drawn from the sheriff's office, Lexington police, the county fire service, the State Law Enforcement Division, the FBI and the ATF, according to WRDW.

Searchers noticed disturbed dirt beneath a layer of pine straw, The Post and Courier reported. As crime-scene technicians and state and federal agents carefully probed and dug, they heard the baby crying. He was inside a small wire dog crate, wrapped in a towel, about a foot underground. Koon said the towel likely created an air pocket that helped keep the child alive.

The boy was found around 1:30 to 1:45 p.m. Tuesday and taken to a hospital. Koon said he is expected to make a full recovery, NTD reported, although the sheriff's office had not given an update on his condition as of Wednesday, CNN reported.

Comer has been charged with burglary and resisting arrest, according to ABC News and CNN. Koon said there is "a lot more work to do" on charges, The Post and Courier reported, and the sheriff's office is working with the local solicitor's office on what further counts to bring.

Court records show Comer was on probation after pleading guilty to aggravated breach of peace and had been arrested earlier this year on domestic violence and weapons-related charges, WIS and WRDW reported. Investigators have not said what motive they believe was behind the child's disappearance. A bond hearing was scheduled for Thursday, and it was unclear whether Comer had an attorney, CNN reported. Like every defendant, he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Every so often a story reminds us that miracles still happen, and that they often arrive through ordinary people doing their jobs well. Deputies, firefighters, state agents and federal investigators combed those woods. Someone noticed that the pine straw did not look right. Someone knelt down and listened.

The sheriff himself put it best, telling reporters, as ABC News reported, "Certainly, God is good". Many families in Lexington County are surely saying the same tonight.

There will be hard questions in the days ahead about how a child who was supposed to be safe ended up in the woods, and the justice system must answer them fully. For now, a little boy is alive because a community refused to stop looking. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.