Missing Alabama baby found dead, father charged with capital murder
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Updated: 6:03 PM CDT May 13, 2021
WVTM 13 Digital
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Updated: 6:03 PM CDT May 13, 2021
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I'm Sheriff Derek Cunningham with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Um Today really I just want to say thank you to uh our partners in this case, we had several law enforcement agencies that assisted us, uh State Bureau of Investigation, the lounge County Sheriff's Office, uh second uh Circuit District Attorney as well as our district Attorney, Daryl bailey and uh the FBI the Federal Real of Investigation. I can't say enough about them. I mean when you say joined at the hip, we were joined at the hill throughout this whole investigation. I mean, Uh huh but that's what it takes to be able to bring closure to cases like this is the networking and it's the people that you have And not to mention my staff, my investigators, they were 24/7 on this case. And I think I probably got the best group of investigators out here and not to mention you all because we went for the media, we wouldn't be able to put this message out. You all did a tremendous job. Getting this message out in the community and the business owners that we've dealt with. Everybody has been fantastic on this investigation with us. Okay. Yeah. But any time you're dealing with something that anybody that knows Sheriff Cunningham, I talked about our kids being 50 of our population, 100 of our future. But when we start talking about our Children, when we start talking about we're losing our Children, this case is something that At about 32 years of working uh in law enforcement, being in homicide, working cases. Uh, this says a lot. This says a lot. So there's morning, Chief Deputy Murphy is going to go over the details and then you'll hear from the FBI and then you'll hear from our District Attorney achievement. Thank you Sheriff. Coming out As most all of you are aware, Monday evening, we received a call on to 31 north going toward the Tonka. There was a report of a missing child and certainly the media was involved in. But leah put out an amber alert of trying to locate this child. Our investigators responded late at night monday and several of them worked through the night. But by the following morning that's Tuesday morning we received the assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And in the preliminary meeting There was probably 30 law enforcement officers in the room. I counted 18 FBI agents. There were members as the Sheriff spoke about a moment ago, Aaliyah was there. And the way I really encapsulate this investigation was it was just good old fashioned police work incident command system was implemented and the training and the experience. The FBI Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. I go to Police Department. Aaliyah State Bureau of Investigation of course, in moore County Sheriff's Office, Lawrence County Sheriff's Office and even some elements from the U. S. Marshal Service all understand this system. And when you're investigating a case with this breath, it's very, very important that you not step over the same lead twice because there's so many moving parts. But the organization incident command with the FBI and the Sheriff's office and the assisting agencies was just phenomenal. And we were making progress uh huh. By the end of the day Tuesday, we probably had 50 or 60 members working on this task force and then yesterday probably even more because we started expanding our search. But again through just old fashioned police work, we were able to find this little guy, this is K. Kaleb Winston, Jr Yeah. And I think that the media has these photos but we were able to recover his body through investigative efforts. And as you were made aware yesterday, we initially charged his father. Caleb was the senior with manslaughter With $100,000 bond. But after the autopsy was conducted last night there is evidence to indicate that the proper charge will be capital murder. And so that manslaughter charge will not be upgraded after consulting with Daryl bailey and his staff at the District Attorney's office to Capital Murder with no bond. Okay now I'm going to introduce Ray Cook. He's uh senior supervisory agent in charge for the FBI to say a few words. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Morning, uh Break Cook with the FBI of mobile. I just want to say that we've been in lock step with Derek's office from the onset of this investigation offering our assistance and resources. It was through this long established partnership that the case was able to move to the point that it is right now, as unfortunate as it is, we're very proud of our relationships with our law enforcement community partners. And this is a great example of just when we get together how much we can accomplish. Yeah. Good morning. I want to say first that I am so extremely proud of our Sheriff's office. Uh Sheriff Cunningham and I have been at this for almost 30 years working together and chief Murphy and I've been doing that about the same amount of time. So I expect really nothing less than what they gave this case, which is really excellent. I'm very proud of their office, their team. I've watched firsthand then working around the clock 24/7 to make sure that this case was solved and that the proper charges were brought and that the correct person will be held accountable, very proud of. Our federal authorities are state and local authorities that pitched in. Montgomery is a wonderful place. Our community is a great place. Our law enforcement community are wonderful people any time we call there there and we really, really appreciate that this morning begins the long process of going through the criminal justice system. The one thing that I can promise you is that this case will be prosecuted by the best prosecutors in this state and then we will make sure that justice will prevail for this baby. You have my word on that. You all heard from the agencies that assisted and work together to bring closure to this case. Don't get me wrong now this, we still got a lot of work to do this case is we're still following up on a lot of leads, A lot of things that are investigators are still doing. Uh, So, um this is still in the early stages, uh, but what we wanted to do is let our community no, that we brought closure. Uh not only to the family but to our community as a whole. Because this message was out there. Everybody was looking for this baby and that's what we want to do this morning is let the community know uh that we brought closer. It's kind of hard to sit here and take questions at uh a case such as this, that involves a lot and we still have a lot of work to do. And it's kind of hard for us to put information out there were still obtaining. So, uh, we'll be very limited with what we have to say. And uh this brian sheriff. Can you tell us where the baby's body was found and the manner of death? Well I can tell you the baby's body was found in Lounge County, Alan rural sector of Lounge County. But as far as a matter of death were still working that case. As I said, you've got to realize that the uh all of this came to fruition late last night and we're still working with the department of forensic Sciences and hopefully we'll be able to put something out at a later time. How big of a role uh did the news conference yesterday which we all covered? Live, how big a role did that play? Leading to the arrest of the father? I would say. Uh after the news conference we were able to obtain some pretty good information that led us to the body. Sure. Coming here. And why wasn't um an amber alert issued. And at the time of yesterday's press conference, could you disclose how far along you all were into the investigation as chief Murphy had told you earlier? Uh we started this investigation that monday um night. So and the press conference was yesterday afternoon. So we were deep into the case. And Like I said my investigators, they went 24/7 and I've probably got the best in the state because they didn't give up. I mean they followed up on every lead and they're still out there today and they're going back out there today. So uh this is this is something that you don't want to rush. This is something that we're going to take our time. We're gonna do it right? Because you know, as I said before, this is this is a baby. You're talking about a five week old baby. And mm not only do we want to make sure that justice has prevailed, but the community wants to know that as well. And that's what we're here for. What role did drugs play into this? Well, okay, I can tell you this that like I said, we're still investigating that we still got a lot to do with, you know, drugs is everywhere in our community. Drugs or something that we're going to have to deal with. But at the same time, I'm not gonna say, uh, and I'm not at liberty to say how, uh, this case panned out. Uh, right now it's still early and I don't want to put something out there right now until we get everything documented. Get all of our eyes dot in Artie's cross. And that's what we're gonna just man at the gas station Or for 49 11 call. Is that information still accurate? Knowledge was believed to still be alive at the time. That surveillance, That's the question I can't answer. Uh, um, because we don't know that answer. I hate to sit here and tell you something that I don't know and I'm not going to speculate on a case like this sheriff. Is it safe to say that this is was not an accident. That this was a deliberate attack by the father. It's safe to say that we're still investigating it right now and hopefully we'll be able to give you more details. Uh, a little bit later, we still got a lot of things we got to do and I'm not going to speculate and I'm not gonna put anything out until we got all of our facts together. As I said before, you got to realize all this stuff came to fruition late last night and I just want to put our community at ease and let them know that we brought closure and we were able to make an arrest, has confessed right now brian was still working this case and once we get all of our tease crossing my, I's dotted, I will be glad to give you all an update right now. It's still early. So we're still working this case. If we still got a lot of leads we got to follow up on and so hopefully uh, once we get to that point and me and the District Attorney's office sit down and have our conversations and we'll be able to give you an update Sheriff. You and I have known each other for a number of years now. I think all of us can sort of see it on your face and would you first approach the podium? How much is this way? And I'm assuming everybody here for at least parents for having grandparents. How much is this weigh on you in terms of having two separate your emotions and you've got to focus on the job? Well, brian you everybody in Montgomery knows I love our youth, I love our community and I always try to put our youth first Because as I told you all in the beginning, that's 50 of our population, but 100 of our future and shoot all of my investigators, all of my, my employees, my staff and all of our partner agencies. Everybody has kids and any time that you were not just talking about a child, we're talking about a five month old baby. So yeah, that way's on people, but we still have a job to do and we're going to do our job to the best of our abilities because our main goal is to bring closure and to bring justice for that baby. Are you able to describe the video if you already retreat the circle K and what you have found support? Well, that's something that we're working on now because all that's gonna be part of the timeline. So I hate to really go into details as to what the video footage looked like and you know, we're still meeting, we're still talking and as I said, you know, all this stuff came to fruition late last night. So, uh, if you all give us a chance to let us get everything lined up and we'll be able to give you an update. Had bonded out before the charges were upgraded. No, sheriff, you mentioned the timeline. Can you give us any more about that? Like how long or how when did this possibly happen in relation to when the call was monday night or you know, any more about the timeline? It's kind of hard to be able to tell you something like that because we don't know. We're still trying to piece everything together. Uh, like I said, we the department forensic sciences is still uh doing their job until we get all of that information. And to be able to sit there and be able to say, well, we got this time, this time that time and be able to put everything together. It's kind of hard to be able to give you a definite answers until we get definite answers. Sure. Is there any particular reason why yesterday? The father said the last time he remembered being all together with saturday, when we have surveillance footage from monday? Why was an amber alert? Not issues for a missing child? When when you're talking about saturday at the initial report came in monday. Is there any particular reason why amber alert was issued on monday? We pushed out a look out for the child uh due to the fact that we were still getting uh information and some of the information that we were getting wasn't lining up correctly. And so we were able to put a lookout on this child uh to be able to let people know we're looking for this baby and until we can get more concrete information. Uh it's kind of hard to do an amber alert on speculations and we heard a lot about last sightings, more than one or all of those apparent last sightings of the child where all of those accurate, I don't know. We're still trying to add all that stuff up and that's what I'm saying. We got a lot of information and our investigators are stretched thin, but hopefully we'll be able to get all that stuff and we'll get everything lined up and we'll be able to get back to you just for clarification baby? Five months, five months. I thought I'm sorry. I said 55 months. It was one month, five weeks. Yes. Can you tell us how the baby came to be found in Lawrence County? And we just obtained some information and we were able to go and and find the baby. Any indication of how long the baby had been dead? When I don't know. We're still the baby still at department Friends of Sciences. And hopefully once we get all that information, I'll be able to give you all an update. Hey, but I thank you all and I appreciate what you all did. You all got the message out there And if it wasn't for you all putting this out the leads and the calls that we were getting, we wouldn't have been getting it. So I thank the media. I mean, I think that relationship that we have here in Montgomery with the media and being able to open up with you all, I think it helped us on this case, and I appreciate what you all did. And I thank all of our partners and I thank everybody for being able to bring this case to a closure. I thank you.