Comer held without bond as investigators work with prosecutors on further charges
Lexington County online court records show Michael Comer, 25, the father of an 11-month-old boy who was found alive this week after being buried in a dog crate in South Carolina, was sentenced to probation in October after pleading guilty to domestic violence and aggravated breach-of-peace charges related to a July arrest. Prosecutors dropped a gun charge as part of the plea deal. Comer was arrested Monday night and was being held without bond on a burglary charge, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said.
Koon said Koah’s parents “have had some situations” regarding domestic violence charges. “Children,” he said, “sometimes get caught in the middle.”
Investigators were working with prosecutors to confirm further charges, Koon said. It was not immediately known if Comer had a lawyer. A phone number could not be found for him. The Associated Press sent emails seeking information to the public defender and prosecutors.
The search that ended with Comer’s arrest began Monday in Lexington County, just west of Columbia, after 11-month-old Koah Sharp was reported missing. Authorities said Koah had been in the care of Comer’s mother, the boy’s grandmother. She had to run an errand and left the boy in Comer’s care, and another caregiver was on the way, Koon said. “By the time the caregiver got there, Michael was gone, and Koah was gone with him,” the sheriff said.
Nearly 100 first responders participated in the search for the child, whom the sheriff’s office had described as a “bright boy with reddish blond hair.” After a full day of searching, authorities found freshly disturbed soil in the woods not far from the home of the boy’s grandfather. Deputies who searched the grandfather’s home found the doors open and baby belongings inside, but they did not see Comer or the child, Koon said. Then the digging started. They unearthed Koah, who was “clinging to life” after being buried alive in a dog crate wrapped in a towel, the sheriff said.
“Certainly, God is good,” Koon said Tuesday at a news conference, not long after Koah was found. “He was screaming at the top of his lungs, which is a good thing in the baby world, I would guess.”
The towel probably created an air pocket that allowed the boy to breathe in the crate, the sheriff said. Cool temperatures also may have helped.
“It was shallow,” Koon said of the burial. “I think once that crate hit the ground, it was probably about at least a foot from the top of that crate to the top of the ground.”
Koah was taken to a hospital after he was freed from the crate. His condition was not immediately known Wednesday.
Surveillance video from several businesses in the area showed Comer without the infant on Monday afternoon, Koon said. The father was found Monday night and was arrested.
Amber Hammond, the boy’s great aunt, watched as Koah was freed from the crate, she told The Associated Press in an interview. “We’re better now that we know that Koah is safe,” Hammond said.