Dad Buried Missing Baby Alive in Dog Crate: Police

We found little koa sharp, 11 months. old, buried alive, clinging to life, crying. >> An absolutely shocking scene. An. 11-month-old boy buried alive in the. woods behind his grandfather's house. And the man accused [music] of putting. him there was his own father. >> wrapped in a towel that by the grace of. God probably provided enough air for him. to survive our estimation of the last 24. hours under that dirt. But by the time. they pulled that baby out of the ground,

the father [music] was already in. custody, reportedly refusing to say. where his son was. I'm going to take a. [music] look at how this even could. happen and what the baby's own father. was posting online just days [music]. before this boy was buried in the woods. Welcome to Sidebar, presented [music] by. Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. This is one of those cases that when you. hear the allegations, it just really makes you angry. It just. makes you angry. It makes you upset. It.

is incredibly disturbing. An 11month-old. boy, think about that. 11 months old, was apparently found buried alive in the. woods behind his grandfather's house in. Lexington County, South Carolina. Police. say he was inside a wired dog crate. wrapped in a towel. He survived. He. survived. That's the miracle in all of. this. His name is Ka Sharp. He has. reddish hair, blue eyes, a pacifier that.

he usually has with him. Deputies say. the man who put him in the ground was. his own father. And by the time they. found the baby, his father was already. in custody, reportedly or allegedly. refusing to say where his son was. So, here's what investigators say happened. This is according to the Lexington. County Sheriff's Department. So, COA was. in the care of his grandmother on. Monday, November 9th. She left to go to. work and left Co with his father, Michael Comr. Another caregiver was. supposed to come later that day. At. around 11:00 a.m., a friend stopped by.

the house to drop off formula, but. nobody answered the door. The friend. called the grandma, and she said. something just didn't feel right. So, she left work, goes home. When she gets. there, Michael and Co were gone. So, deputies were called at around lunchtime. and they went to the home of Comr's. father and they say they found the doors. were wide open. The baby's belongings. were inside. No Michael, no Co-op. Now, it doesn't seem that Comr had a car. because the sheriff said that he was. bumming rides. He was calling people. He.

was getting from place to place that. way. But surveillance video later. apparently showed him at businesses in. the Batesburg Leville area that morning. alone without the baby. Sheriff said. Comr laughed Gaston that morning and was. seen on video in the Batesburg Leville. area again without the child. So no. Amber Alert could be issued because. according to police, you need a vehicle, you need a license plate. They had. neither. And according to the sheriff's. post on Facebook, quote, KO was taken by. his father, Michael CR on Monday, November 9th, 2026. According to.

investigators, investigators know that. Comr traveled to multiple locations. within Lexington County on Monday. However, Comr does not have access to a. vehicle. Comr was arrested on a burglary. charge late Monday night by Lexington. County deputies, but Koa was not with. him. It is imperative that Koa is. located immediately and placed back into. the custody of his caregivers. So Koa's. mother was also posting too. She wrote. this on Facebook the same day. If anyone. sees my baby Koa, 11 months old, let or. police me know. His dad, Michael CR, has.

decided to kidnap him. I've been letting. them visit on weekends since he's been. going to therapy and stopped drinking. His dad decided though it was time to. get jealous over other guys. So he. pulled this on this weekend's trip. Been. gone since this morning. Known by police. to have been in Batesburg area. Has been. seen at his house as well as Barnyard. around 3:30 today. I've heard as well. He is a harm to himself as far as I've. heard. So possibly others. Just to be. clear, these are claims that the mother.

is making. We can't verify this through. what law enforcement has been saying. But deputies, they find COR late Monday. night around 10:30 in a shed that didn't. belong to him and he was arrested. initially on burglary and resisting. arrest charges. Co was not with him. Reportedly, this father didn't say again. about where the baby was. And by the. morning of November 10th, nearly 100. officers, firefighters, public safety. officials, they were searching for this. baby. SLED, the FBI, ATF, Lexington.

County Fire Service, they were all. involved. And about 50 yards into the. woods behind the house of Comr's father, that is when these search teams saw. fresh dirt and pine straw. Crime scene. technicians started probing the ground. and they heard crying. Lexington County. Sheriff Jay June walked through. everything during a press conference. >> Just a few moments ago, we found little. Koa Sharp, 11 months old, buried alive,

clinging to life, crying. uh the most. joyful sound you ever heard of a crying. baby, much like be when your children. were born, but certainly um just up the. street um buried in a what I would call. a dog crate wrapped in a towel that by. the grace of God probably provided. enough air for him to survive our. estimation of the last 24 hours under. that dirt. >> By the way, if you're into content. creation, if you're putting things out. on social media, you might be wondering, how do we share all of these clips on. all of these cases so quickly? How do we. do it in real time? Well, the secret is.

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next three months. That's. opus.pro/sidebar. >> A search party earlier today found a. site not far from Michael's father's. house, probably about 50 yards in the. woods in a pine straw of some freshly. disturbed earth dirt. Um, we searched. that. with our crime scenes tech, our crime. scene sled and FBI folks and as they. probed it and laid it out and started. digging, you could hear little COA.

crying. So, as you imagine, race was on. Everybody's getting down there trying to. get him out. >> Can you imagine that? And it's a miracle. this baby's alive. Sheriff said they. believe the baby was buried sometime. between 9:00 in the morning and noon on. Monday after Comr left Gaston and before. deputies got to the grandfather's house. around noon. Said the crate was 2 feet. by 2 feet, wire slats open. Top of the. crate was about a foot below the. surface. By the afternoon, they had. video of comr at those businesses in the. area like I mentioned before without the. child.

>> Strangely enough, the cold weather may. have helped too with it. um you know, kind of the chill in the air and and not. so hot to to if you know about the. ability to have air and and how quickly. you breathe air. So, a lot of things. were going in Coa's favor and a good. lower look down on him the last 24. hours. And hopefully at 11 months old, he will um not remember much of this as. he grows older just to have a great. inspiring story to tell. >> But you know what else the sheriff was. asked? Why, right? Why would a father.

allegedly do this to his own baby? I. want to get into that. I want to try to. understand that. I want to try to. understand what other charges COMR could. be facing. And to do all that, help. break this down. I want to bring on. Marian Bracha, practice professor of. law, director of LLM in trial advocacy. program, former uh child sexual abuse. and sex crimes prosecutor. Thank you so. much for taking the time. Have you ever. seen a case like this? >> This is this is pretty horrific. I was. mentioning before we started rolling, this is this is perhaps one of the worst.

imaginable. So, um, this is pretty. pretty awful. >> Baby survived though. That's the only. way of looking at the silver lining of. this. And look, I know I know he's. innocent unless proven guilty, and we. don't we'll talk about what the. potential charges could be, but my gosh, I mean, the fact that the baby survived. is um is a miracle. >> It's it's it's literally nothing short. of miraculous. Yes. Correct. when I mean, let me just start with what. everyone's watching this and thinking. You have a father accused of taking his.

11-month-old son, putting him in a dog. crate, wrapping in a towel, burying him. in the woods from a prosecutor's. perspective, and we'll talk about what. potential charges are when you hear. those alleged facts, what stands out to. you first? again, the uh the thankfulness that the. baby survived, that this isn't a mur. murder charge that we're looking at or. could potentially be looking at. Um, you. know, what stands out to me and and your. question about why is that there's no.

requirement for a prosecutor to have to. prove motive or prove um why something. was undertaken. Unfortunately, the. explanation for something this awful. could truly just be evildoing. A, as. basic as that sounds. Um, but there is. no requirement in any statute that um. the prosecutor has to provide an. explanation for what someone was. thinking or what their motivation was. Oftentimes, it's helpful to a. factfinder's understanding. It kind of.

helps um make it a little bit um uh more. in terms of a story to understand the. why. But that is not a legal requirement. of the prosecutor's duties. >> Unless people are looking at this and. saying you have a guy who must not have. been in his right mind. How can on earth. could even But if you allegedly take. your child and put them in a crate with. a towel and bury them in a property 50. yards away uh you know in a woods 50. yards away from your family's property.

that shows a level of consciousness, right? That shows a level that you do. not want the baby to be found. Um I I. that's how I would think prosecutors. would argue that it should some sort of. mental health defense come into play. A. >> absolutely. I mean, this was someone who. had to go through multiple steps of. processing, of executive functioning and. processing to go through the steps of. finding a a a suitable container, something that would that suit the size.

of the child, wrap it in in a towel, dig. the hole, bury the entire container or. cage, um, and then go to the steps of. covering it up. So, it's not just that. it was found 50 yards away, but it was a. a shallow and and recently disturbed. plot of land, plot of ground, um where. straw was found over top of it. And and. if I were the prosecutor in this case, um that would that would show to me that. would indicate to me some um fairly.

well-formed. functioning to show that this was. someone who was trying to cover up their. tracks or showing um that this was. someone who didn't want the this baby to. be located and and and recovered. >> Level of planning, alleged level of. planning. Right. Look, you know, when I. was reading about how the law. enforcement was desperately asking for. the public's health and you you know. time is of the essence and you had sled, the FBI, ATF, fire crews, everybody's. looking. The fact that the baby was.

recovered, the fact that this child was. found within that time, 24 hours, and. we've talked about it's a miracle, uh. this young boy survived. the fact that. the baby was able to be recovered that. is so unlike other many other cases that. we cover, right? I mean, you talk about. the race of time, but sometimes you. wonder if law enforcement as they're. thinking this and they have a guy in. custody and he's not saying or allegedly. is not saying what happened to his son, they're thinking the worst. They're.

thinking this all might be moot. >> Right. So, in a case like this, as as. you mentioned, if there is any silver. lining, it's the fact that this baby had. some family members who um cared enough. and were worried enough to make the. missing person report to follow up with. law enforcement to cooperate with law. enforcement. And then all hats off and. all kudos go to all members of of the. law enforcement team and all of the the. various agencies that you mentioned um.

for their quick action and and and. collaboration to find this baby and to. find this baby safely. Um so again when. we consider just the depravity. the alleged depravity of someone who. could do something like this um the. counterbalance to that and it's it's. always nice to be reminded of this from. a human perspective uh is that there are. still people in the world who show. empathy and care and compassion and who. will go the distance to ensure the.

safety and well-being of others. especially one as vulnerable as an 11. 11month old baby. I want to highlight. something. So during the press. conference, the sheriff was asked. directly about motive. Here's what he. said. >> No, I know um the mother child and him. have had some situations. Um it's been. documented by some of y'all some recent. um domestic violence type um charges and. and um outcomes in court. So um there. was obviously some issues. Um certainly. children sometimes get caught in the. middle. So, he's seemingly pointing at a.

history. And earlier this year, we. checked it out, checked the court. records. Back in July, Mr. Comr was. arrested in a separate case. The court. records apparently show that Comr. pleaded guilty in October to breach of. peace, aggravated in nature. It was. reduced from a firstdegree assault and. battery charge from a July 22nd arrest. apparently got a youthful offender. status or sentence not to exceed five. years, suspended after 78 days already. served, followed by 13 months probation.

In the same October 8th plea, he. apparently also pleaded guilty to. thirdderee domestic violence from a May. 13th arrest that was reduced from a. secondderee domestic violence charge. He. apparently got a concurrent sentence. with credit for time served. A lot of. things to think about this. From your. experience, what does that tell you. about what was maybe happening in the. months before Monday given if these. allegations are true?

Well, so it's it's it's no secret that. um children who are exposed to or live. in a home with domestic violence between. their parents or between um uh domestic. partners um are more at risk for abuse. themselves. I think there is plenty of. research on that um that that. correlation um between abusive partners. Um, I I think however that when you have. adult complainants, meaning adult.

survivors of intimate partner violence. or domestic violence, that doesn't. necessarily trigger social service. intervention on the part of the child. So, while there may have been this. violent relationship, and it sounds like. there was, between the mother um of the. child and this alleged perpetrator, um. that doesn't necessarily mean that DHS. services or child and youth protective. services would have been notified that. there was some risk posed to the child.

in this scenario. um there is always the. benefit of the doubt extended that um. the relationship between the adults. would not extend to the children. Unfortunately, that's not all that. doesn't always square with what we're. seeing in the social science research. But that is likely why if there wasn't. social service involvement um that they. weren't automatically notified from the. previous incidents. >> But sometimes it's the child that takes. the brunt of it, right? The child is. sometimes used as the the the source of.

all the pain, all the problems and the. rel I'm not saying that's what happened. here. I don't. But what I will tell you. what I thought was interesting. Okay, I. want to show you something. So the Mr. Comr apparently had Facebook posts. Okay, before all this happened. 4 days. before his baby was found on November. 7th, he posted this on Facebook. quote, "Being a father starts when she's. pregnant, not when the baby is born." 3. days before that, on November 4th, he.

posted a photo of CO at a hospital. Caption read, "Coa Deboa gets his first. MRI." So, four days before this baby or. just days before this baby was buried, his father's posted all about this, about what it means to be a father, a. photo of his son, the hospital. What do. you make of that as someone who's. prosecuted or maybe has prosecuted cases. like this? >> Well, I I could anticipate a world in. which the defense is perhaps pointing a.

finger potentially at someone else and. saying, "See, these are the um the. postings and and the the ruminations of. a caring and concerned father. um if. this child needed medical care or. otherwise needed medical attention in. the days before his disappearance, perhaps someone else was responsible for. that. Um so I I could imagine a world in. which um the prosecution wants to use uh.

these Facebook posts assuming they can. be authenticated, assuming that they can. can indeed be attributed to um the the. father or who would eventually be. charged if he is eventually charged. Um, but I could also see a world where a. defense team might be able to spin uh. the message of these Facebook posts to. say that this is someone who was. actually concerned and actually um uh. who wanted to be there for his child and. this is not someone who was of the the. the the state of mind to do harm to this.

child. >> And I look again if these allegations. are true, one of the things that I've. also wondered is did something happen. immediately, right? or is there a way. that you have a that you have a spouse. or you have a partner that wants to. punish the other person because of. something that happened and what way to. punish the other than harming a child? Now, um again, he. hasn't been necessarily charged with. with relation to this, but I do want to. make a point. So, and I talked about. this earlier. KOA's mother, uh, Desiree.

Sharp told the Daily Mail that COMR had. been allowed to visit on weekends. because he had been going to therapy, stopped drinking, and she said that he. got jealous over other guys and then. quote pulled this on this weekend's. trip. Now, when you look at that, that's. interesting, right? This idea of maybe. everything was fine and then something. happened, something snaps, something. triggered this. If these allegations are. true, again, I'm trying to make sense of. what might have been going on in. someone's mind, and this is her.

accounting of it. Do you take what do. you take away from it? >> My my takeaway and and where my former. prosecutor brain immediately goes is, but how much time was spent um engaging. in the activities that would lead to. burying a child surrounded by a towel in. a shallow grave and then covered with. straw? At what point in all of the. effort that's required to to to take. actions like that, at what point does. someone come to their senses and say,

"What in the world am I doing? This is. my child. This is my offspring. This is. a living, breathing baby that I'm. putting in a cage and putting in the. ground." Um, so, so in terms of, you. know, something snapping perhaps and and. and that's an argument that I've heard. and seen to defeat a premeditation. uh uh claim. Um, but but think about the. length of time. This wasn't a crime of. passion. This wasn't something that.

happened in an instant. Think about the. length of time and effort uh and and. planning and processing that goes into. committing acts like this. I think the. prosecutor would be able to defeat that. by showing just um all of the steps that. are necessary to have accomplished this. >> and also allegedly not telling law. enforcement where your son is right now. Now, I wonder if a defense attorney. could say, "Well, maybe that maybe he. really didn't know. Maybe he didn't. really say because he really didn't know. where his son was, but he was the last. one by all accounts and maybe maybe this.

new evidence will come out to be with. his son. So, I think that could be. difficult. Let me ask you now the big. question. What are the charges? What. could he be facing? Because the sher the. sheriff also said that they're still. working with the solicitor's office on. charges. When you're talking about. allegedly burying a living child in a. crate, leaving him in the woods, what. are potential charges that a prosecutor. be looking at here? >> I I would absolutely think immediately. for attempted murder. Um you you can't. possibly put [snorts] a child in the. ground for 24 hours and expect them to.

survive. There is attempted murder is a. specific intent crime. there needs to be. um the end goal in mind of um taking a. human life. I I can't imagine a world. where um that wasn't the intention that. wasn't the specific intention of someone. um who would have taken these steps. um. you know a lesser certainly a lesser. graded charge would be um assault. aggravated assault and because this is. uh a child I could also envision the.

state equivalent of an endangering the. welfare of a child charge or some kind. of um dereliction of of care caretaking. responsibility because this was a child. this this was a parent um again if he is. the one charged that's what I would. envision. >> in resulting in great bodily injury. right resulting in great b which can be. an aggravator if that if that's under. the law in that state, but also a. prosecutor would want to include those. additional charges just in case a jury. says we we don't we can't get all on.

board that there was an intent to to. murder. Um that there but again that. might be I I'd have to we'll see more of. the evidence in this case if that's what. he's ultimately charged with. But that's. typically prosecutors would would. include those lesser charges which could. carry significant prison time just in. case they can't meet the higher burden. of attempted murder. Right. >> That's correct. That's correct. So, they. would include what what are known as. lesser included charges and then um. there is oftent times a a charge in. state court where the the judge would. instruct the jury um that if they are.

able to reach a decision, a guilty. verdict on the lead charge, they can. stop there. Um they could stop at that. charge and not consider the lesser. included. If however they were not able. to reach a verdict on the lead charge or. found not guilty on the lead charge, which might potentially be attempted. murder, then they would go down the list. um of charges and and make a decision on. each one um in in the order in which. they were presented on the indictment.

[sighs]. >> This is one that stays with you, isn't. it? U Professor Marian Brchett, thank. you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thanks, Jesse. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. [music] much for joining us. I'm Jesse. Weber. I'll speak to you next time.