A 32-year-old father from Alabama is facing a capital murder charge after his 5-week-old son was found dead in the woods.
Investigators found the remains of Caleb ‘CJ’ Whisnand Jr in Lowndes County only two days after his parents reported him missing.
Caleb Whisnand Sr was initially arrested and charged with reckless manslaughter. But during a Thursday conference, authorities said that the father will face a capital murder charge based on evidence found during an autopsy on his son.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office did not reveal how the baby died and officials said the investigation is still ongoing.
The child’s mother, Angela Gardner, is not facing any charges over her son’s death.
During a news conference on Wednesday, the 32-year-old father asked the public for any information.
“I don’t remember a lot. But I did remember I was breaking up with the cops. If anybody’s got anything, any place I could have gone,” he expressed.
Gardner, 28, said her baby was with the elder Whisnand and he informed her that the boy was missing when he went to a gas station.
“Please, find him, please,” the heartbroken mother told reporters.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Trent Beasley said authorities received a 911 call on Monday night about the missing baby.
The alert from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said that the child was last seen at 9 pm on Saturday.
During the press conference, Whisnand told reporters that the last time they were all together was on Saturday night.
But moments later, the mother said she was home with her two-year-old on Monday while CJ was with Whisnand at the gas station on Monday night.
An affidavit that was filed in the case states that CJ was killed sometime between 3:45 and 5:30 pm on Monday, hours before the father called the police from a convenience store.
He allegedly buried his son about 30 miles southwest of the gas station.
At the time of Whisnand’s arrest, he was already under indictment on unrelated charges of heroin and meth possession, reckless endangerment, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
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