Police dig at family’s house in hunt for ‘murdered’ toddler believed to be buried there

Police are digging up the property around a family’s house in hopes of finding the remains of a five-year-old boy.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said they resumed the search for ‘Baby Joe’ Clyde Daniels on Tuesday – two years after the boy disappeared in 2018 in Dickson, Tennessee.

Authorities did not say what new evidence led to the renewed search efforts or what they are looking for. TBI agents first executed the search warrant on Thursday and began removing high brush and shrub near a fence area, but the search was momentarily paused due to rain.

Baby Joe as initially reported missing by his parents on April 4, 2018, sparking a search effort that including hundreds of law enforcement officers and community members.

Three days later, Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe announced the boy’s father, Joseph Daniels, had been charged with criminal homicide for the death of his son, according to News Channel 5.

According to the arrest report, Daniels admitted that he struck his son ‘repeatedly in the body, upper torso, head and face with a closed fist’ until the boy died.

‘Daniels then placed the body of his five-year-old son in the trunk of the car and disposed of his son’s body in a remote, rural area,’ police said.

However, Daniels later recanted his confession.

The boy’s mother, Krystal Daniels, was arrested two days later and charged with aggravated child abuse.

In July 2019, hair was found on a shovel that was also found with blood on it that was confirmed to belong to Joe Daniels. Authorities did not say where the shovel was found or whether the hair was Baby Joe’s.

Both Joseph Daniels and his wife are set to stand trial in August. Both remain jailed on $1 million bonds.

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