Tragic end in search for 4-year-old boy who went missing with dog on New Year's Eve
Johnathan Everett 'John John' Boley, 4, was last seen on the morning of New Year's Eve playing outside his father's Alabama home with his older brother and their dog, Buck.
A four-year-old boy who went missing with his black Labrador retriever on New Year's Eve was found dead just two miles from his father's Alabama home.
Johnathan Everett 'John John' Boley, 4, was last seen around 11:30am Wednesday playing outside in Jasper with his six-year-old brother and their dog, Buck, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
On Friday, after an extensive two-day search, his body was found just miles away in a rural area outside Birmingham, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith said at a press conference. The dog was found alive near his body.
'It's with great sadness that I'm here to announce that we have located Jonathan, and Jonathan is deceased,' Smith said.
'Jonathan was an adventurous boy and he loved the outdoors,' he added.
The boy's father, Jameson Kyle Boley, was taken into custody during the investigation after authorities reportedly found what they believed were explosive devices on his property, WVTM 13 News reported.
Even after authorities determined the devices were not explosive, Jameson was still charged with two counts of chemical endangerment of a child and one count of unlawful manufacture of a destructive device or bacteriological weapon.
Sheriff Smith stressed on Thursday that the father's charges 'had nothing to do with the connection of the missing child, it's something totally separate.'
Johnathan Everett 'John John' Boley, 4, who went missing with his black Labrador retriever on New Year's Eve, was found dead just two miles from his father's Alabama home on Friday
Johnathan was last seen around 11:30am Wednesday playing outside with his six-year-old brother and their dog, Buck, in the 7000 block of Highway 195 in Jasper
On Friday, after an extensive two-day search, Johnathan's body was found just miles away in a rural area outside Birmingham. The dog was found alive near his body
'The family, including the dad, has helped, trying to do everything they can do help provide information,' Smith added on Friday.
The grim discovery came after the Walker County Sheriff's Office received a call from Johnathan's father around 12:30pm on New Year's Eve reporting him missing, according to police.
Sheriff Smith said that Johnathan's mother moved to Florida last year, with the father granted only 'five days of custody a year.'
The four-year-old boy was in Alabama for holiday visitation with his father and was scheduled to return to his mother on Thursday, who had flown in from Florida the night before.