🚨 Body of 4-Year-Old Alabama Boy Found Days After Going Missing
A search in Alabama for a 4-year-old boy who vanished on New Year’s Eve has ended in tragedy with the discovery of his body on Friday.
Johnathan Everett Boley was last seen around 11:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday in a wooded and rural area of Jasper, Ala., according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. The Walker County Sheriff’s Office received a call about the missing child around 12:30 p.m. local time on New Year’s Eve.
“We have located Johnathan, and Johnathan is deceased,” Walker County Police Department Sheriff Nick Smith told reporters Friday afternoon. He was found about three kilometres from his father’s home, Smith added. The missing black Labrador retriever was found with Boley and still alive, police said.
It was reported that Boley was with his 6-year-old brother and the dog when he disappeared. “The indications were that Johnathan and his brother were outside playing around the fence line with a dog,” Smith said in a briefing. “The brother said that the dog and his brother went across the fence line.” A neighbor’s game camera last captured the dog on the afternoon of December 26.
The search included air and ground operations with helicopters equipped with thermal detection and canines, continuing until 3 a.m. and resuming Thursday morning.
Boley and his brother live with their mother in Florida but were visiting their father. They were scheduled to return to their mother before the younger boy was reported missing. As part of a custody agreement, the father, Jameson Kyle Boley, had five days a year for visitation.
The mother arrived from Florida on Wednesday evening and is cooperating with authorities. During the search of the home, evidence of “explosive devices” was found on the father’s property. Jameson Kyle Boley has been charged with unlawful manufacture of a destructive device or bacteriological weapon and two counts of chemical endangerment of a child.
“The father has been charged. It’s nothing to do with the connection of the missing child. It’s something totally separate but it’s still a factor that’s hindering our search,” Smith said. Authorities had suspended civilian searches due to the devices. Eight devices initially flagged were later cleared as not explosive, allowing volunteers to resume as of 7 a.m. Friday.
“The father is prior military. It’s just something that neighbours have said they’ve been hearing explosions for weeks now. They just didn’t know where it came from,” Smith said. “The morning before the report came in, one of the neighbours reported that they heard an explosion around 4 a.m. that morning.”
The search saw strong community support, with 126 first responders from nearby agencies and 161 volunteers covering over 500 acres on Thursday.
While this case is from the United States, we’re sharing it because missing people can sometimes travel or be taken across borders. With so many Canadians visiting or living near the U.S. border, public awareness here can still make a difference.
🔗 Source
Visit CanadaMissing.ca for verified missing-person cases across Canada.
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