Tragic update on missing children as boy, 2, is found wandering on train track and his brother, 1, is found dead
THERE has been a tragic update on two missing children after a two-year-old was found wandering near the train tracks where his one-year-old brother was found dead.
A parent of the two boys from Ukiah, California reported them missing on Wednesday around 1.20pm.
The two-year-old boy was found alone and “in distress” around 4pm by the sheriff’s office thanks to a tip.
He appeared to be suffering from heat related symptoms, according to the authorities.
The boy was taken to Adventist Health Ukiah Vally Hospital for a “life-threatening medical emergency,” police say.
About 20 minutes later, the one-year-old brother was found dead on train tracks near the spot where the two-year-old was found.
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The boys were left in the care of Edward “Two Feathers” Steele, 32, at a nearby motel, according to police.
Steele had since been named a person of interest in the investigation and is believe to have information about the two boys prior to police finding them, authorities say.
A sheriff’s spokesman said that Steele is not the boys’ father, The Mercury News reported.
Police were able to find Steele and taken him into custody after he was believed to be avoiding them.
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Hopland Tribal members contacted the police after Steele was spotted on the Hopland Rancheria.
Before the children went missing, police came to a parking lot in Ukiah after they received a report of domestic violence before dawn.
Police said that Steele and a woman he had been dating were in the parking lot.
When the woman spoke to the police, she said her two children were with a babysitter at a nearby motel.
The woman would later be arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence battery, according to police.
Steele was then believed by police to have taken the children into his care after the woman’s arrest, according to the Associated Press.
Investigators also had learned that a man was walking with two young children around 4.50am on Wednesday, who police believe was Steele and the boys before they went missing.
Someone informed the police, but by the time they showed up, the three were nowhere to be found.
Police have arrested Steele on suspicion of murder, according to multiple news outlets.
It is unclear whether Steele has an attorney to speak for him, at this time.
An autopsy for the one-year-old boy had been scheduled, but no cause of death has been confirmed yet.