Body of toddler missing for a week found in the woods

The body of Noah Chamberlin, the 2-year-old missing boy from Pinson, has been found.
Chester County Sheriff Blair Weaver addressed reporters Thursday afternoon, and said Noah’s body was located between 1-4 p.m. about a mile and a half from where he went missing on Jan. 14. The thought of a 2 year old child alone in the woods, wandering for days, no food, no shelter, no protection from the bad elements, wearing the same diaper for days, crying and all is just....heartbreaking. Continue...

“I think we’ve done everything humanly possible,” Weaver said. “We were there and we stuck to it and it just wasn’t meant to be for some reason. We don’t know everything, and we’re not supposed to know everything.”

Authorities said no foul play was involved in Noah's death, which they called a tragic accident. An autopsy will be conducted, which is standard procedure.

Noah had been missing since last Thursday. He, his grandmother and sister were walking in the woods near Short Road near the Chester and Madison county line when he disappeared.

His grandmother had taken him and his four-year-old sister on a nature hike when she said she lost sight of him.

Authorities said the trio had sat down to talk while in the woods and when the grandmother turned around, he was gone.

'They sat down to talk and she was paying attention to the granddaughter, and when she turned around he was gone,' Madison County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tom Mapes said. 'She immediately went to look for him.

 

'Just like grandma said, she turned her head for a minute and he was gone. There were trails everywhere,' Weaver said.

'Everybody we talked to talked about how he ran all the time, jumped over tables, ran, just nonstop,' Mehr added. 'He loved to hide. We had people tell us that even adults would run after him, and they couldn't catch him.'

Hundreds of law enforcement officers and volunteers were involved in the weeklong search before Noah's body was found Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, law enforcement officials said they had found evidence in the woods, leading officers to believe the toddler was nearby.

Madison County Sheriff John Mehr, who had assisted in the search for Noah since Jan. 14 when he was first reported missing, would not comment on what leads or evidence had been found then.
Weaver said volunteers from across the country joined in the effort to find Noah, and those volunteers are appreciated by all the agencies involved in the search.

"That just shows that we're supported and they believe in what we're doing," Weaver said.

Both Mehr and Weaver rejected speculation that Noah's family may have been involved in his disappearance, saying that lies and unfounded rumors have been spread on social media.

Investigators hit out at conspiracy theorists who speculated that the boy's parents, Jacob and Destiny Chamberlin, were behind the disappearance.

Skeptics have been calling on officers to raid the family's home, with wild accusations claiming the child was covered in wet concrete or buried under an outhouse on the family property.

"We have thoroughly vetted all of that," Mehr said, in response to questions on the family's background. The family are "good citizens," Mehr added.



Source: USA Today