Police had been looking for the infant since Dec. 9, one day after the fatal crash that left his 22-year-old mother, Wendy Bailey of Jasper, in critical condition. The boy’s father, Steven Collins, 40, and sister, Raleigh Collins, 2, died in the December 8 crash.
According to a criminal complaint acquired by USA TODAY, the infant’s grandfather and custodian, 55-year-old John Elton Bailey, has been charged with failing to report a missing child and claims the youngster was last seen in September. The filings also imply that the child may have been abused or removed from their Alabama home.
Authorities have detained the grandpa of a 1-year-old boy who went missing following a December 8 crash that killed two of his family members and badly injured his mother.
The kid was last seen in early September, authorities say.
The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, which reported Kahleb Rowan Collins missing on Monday, requested that an emergency missing child alert be issued for him on Tuesday in Alabama.
According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency alert, Kahleb is from Winfield, a city in northwest Alabama about 75 miles northwest of Birmingham, near the Mississippi state boundary.
Bailey was booked into jail shortly before midnight on December 11, according to internet records.
The sheriff’s office did not disclose any other information on the grandfather’s arrest or what they suspect happened to the youngster, but a jail representative told USA TODAY that Bailey was still in Fayette County jail on $100,000 bond on Wednesday.
A single-vehicle crash left a baby unaccounted for.
According to a news release published Monday by the sheriff’s office, shortly before 10:30 a.m. on December 8, deputies assisted Alabama State Troopers with a single-vehicle crash in Glen Allen, Fayette County.
According to troopers, Collins’ 2020 Toyota Tacoma fled the road at excessive speed and collided with a tree. Collins and his companion, Wendy Bailey, were injured and transported to the hospital in critical condition.
Troopers claimed neither wore a seat belt.
Ryleigh Collins, the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, was in the back seat, unrestrained, and pronounced dead at the spot.
Collins, also of Jasper, died in the hospital the next day.
According to the announcement, the sheriff’s office learned that the couple involved in the crash “had another child” who was missing that day.
The fate of Kahleb’s mother, who survived the wreck, remained unknown Wednesday.
USA TODAY has contacted the Sheriff’s Office.
John Bailey, the missing baby’s grandfather, remains in jail.
A jail official told USA TODAY that John Elton Bailey is scheduled to appear in court on January 8.
It was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney.
Police characterized Kahleb as a white man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He stands two feet, six inches tall and weighs 35 pounds.
Anyone with information regarding the case or the baby’s location should call 911 or the sheriff’s office at 205-932-3205.
Source: Baby was ‘unaccounted for’ after deadly car crash. Police now say he was missing for months.
