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Missing 11-month-old boy taken by father found buried alive after 24 hours: Sheriff

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Cite

Deliso, M. (2026, November 11). Missing 11-month-old boy taken by father found buried alive after 24 hours: Sheriff. ABC News (US). https://abcnews.com/US/missing-11-month-boy-father-found-buried-alive/story?id=138029746

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

ABC News (US) · collected 2026-11-11 · by Meredith Deliso

Quick Summary

Koah Sharpe, an 11-month-old boy from South Carolina who was taken by his father Michael Comer, was found buried alive in a dog crate after about 24 hours of searching. The sheriff stated that the child was discovered "clinging to life" and is now receiving medical care at a hospital with hope for recovery. During this time, nearly 100 first responders were involved in the search efforts, leading to the discovery near Comer’s father's property where Koah was found wrapped in a towel and crying.
Written by AI on 2026-11-11, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

An 11-month-old boy named Koah Sharpe was found alive and buried in a dog crate wrapped in a towel on Tuesday near Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina. The baby had been missing since Monday when his father, Michael Comer, took him after being left in the child's care at the mother’s home while she ran an errand. Koah was discovered 24 hours later by search teams who noticed freshly disturbed dirt near the house of Comer’s father. The crate was buried shallowly under dirt and when uncovered, Koah was crying loudly. He is currently hospitalized but expected to recover. Comer was arrested on a burglary charge late Monday night after being found in an outbuilding without Koah. No Amber Alert was issued as Comer does not have access to a car.

Written for “Missing Baby Found Alive Buried” on 2026-11-11, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

Missing Baby Found Alive Buried
Crime & Law · 4 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 30% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
NBC News
Hedges 4 of 23 claims Outlet record 72/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 10 claims Outlet record 66/100
New York Post
Hedges 1 of 26 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
30%
6 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
ABC News (US)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
4
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-11 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (US) · 1507 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Meredith Deliso
40 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
"As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying," the sheriff said.
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Also by Meredith Deliso
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 40 articles by Meredith Deliso →

Topics

Batesburg Batesburg-Leesville Lexington County South Carolina the Lexington County Sheriff's Department

Subjects

Koon PERSON · 8× Comer PERSON · 4× Koah PERSON · 4× Koah Sharpe PERSON · 2× Lexington County GPE · 2× Batesburg-Leesville GPE · 1× Jay Koon PERSON · 1× Michael Comer PERSON · 1× South Carolina GPE · 1× the Lexington County Sheriff's Department ORG · 1×

Narrative

The boy was found wrapped in a towel in the crate, shallowly buried under dirt in the woods, "crying the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby," the sheriff said during a press briefing Tuesday.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-11
"As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying," the sheriff said.

Claims (20 extracted, 6 hedged)

Missing 11-month-old boy taken by father found buried alive after 24 hours: Sheriff asserted
boy → miss → hours
The baby, Koah Sharpe, was found buried in a dog crate, authorities said. asserted
authorities → find → crate
An 11-month-old boy who had been taken by his father was found buried alive in a dog crate following an urgent search, authorities in South Carolina said. asserted
authorities → take → Carolina
The baby, Koah Sharpe, was found Tuesday afternoon "clinging to life," after spending what is believed to have been 24 hours buried, according to Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon. uncertain
what → find → Koon
The boy was found wrapped in a towel in the crate, shallowly buried under dirt in the woods, "crying the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby," the sheriff said during a press briefing Tuesday. asserted
sheriff → find → briefing
"Certainly, God is good," Koon said. asserted
Koon → say → ?
Authorities began searching Monday afternoon for Koah and his father, 25-year-old Michael Comer, according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. uncertain
Authorities → begin → Department
Koah had been left in his father's care at the child's mother's home while she ran an errand, according to Koon. uncertain
she → leave → Koon
Another caregiver was coming to the house, but by the time that person arrived, the father and son were gone, the sheriff said. asserted
sheriff → come → time
Lexington County deputies located Comer late Monday night in the area of Batesburg-Leesville, but Koah was nowhere to be found, authorities said. asserted
authorities → locate → Leesville
A search party of nearly 100 first responders began looking for the baby, according to Koon. uncertain
party → begin → Koon
While searching near Comer's father's house Tuesday afternoon, they found "freshly disturbed" dirt about 50 yards into the woods, he said. asserted
he → search → woods
"As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying," the sheriff said. uncertain
sheriff → probe → it
"As you imagine, the race was on, everybody's getting down there trying to get him out." The baby is currently receiving care at a hospital and "hopefully will make a full recovery," the sheriff said. asserted
sheriff → imagine → recovery
Based on what investigators learned of the father's whereabouts, it is believed the baby had been buried for 24 hours, Koon said. asserted
Koon → base → hours
The sheriff says he believes the towel helped create an "air pocket." asserted
towel → say → pocket
"Hopefully at 11 months old, he will not remember much of this as he grows older, just to have a great inspiring story to tell," Koon said. asserted
Koon → remember → story
Comer was located in an outbuilding at a house in Batesburg on Monday night, according to Koon, who said, "Of course, he didn't have much to say about the whereabouts of the baby at that time. uncertain
he → locate → time
Comer was initially arrested on burglary and resisting arrest charges, and authorities are working with the local solicitor's office to determine additional charges, Koon said. asserted
Koon → arrest → charges
"We want to thank everybody and just celebrate the fact today that an 11-month-old baby is alive," Koon said. asserted
Koon → want → fact
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