Charlie Bothuell, Missing Boy, Found in Own Basement After 11 Days; Dad Discovers Live on TV (VIDEO)
Charlie Bothuell V, the 12-year-old Detroit boy who had been missing for 11 days, was found Wednesday by police officers in his father's basement, according to reports. His father found out the news live on Nancy's Grace television show and was dumbstruck at what occurred.
Charlie Bothuell V had been missing since June 14, when the elder Bothuell said his son never returned from a bathroom break during a workout. Since then Detroit police and FBI had searched the home and surrounding area multiple times for the boy, but he turned up Wednesday. The pre-teen was found hiding behind a box barricade, and that he had food with him at the time.
"I've never seen anything quite like this," Detroit Police Chief James Craig told WDIV news. "But the outcome – I couldn't be happier." Earlier in the day police had speculated that the boy could have been a victim of a homicide.
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The boy's father was live on Nancy Grace's show when she interrupted him with the news and asked him for an explanation. He seemed to have trouble breathing and struggled for a while to respond.
"I'm shocked. I looked. The Detroit police looked. The FBI looked," Charlie Bothuell IV said. "To imply that I knew my son was in the basement is absurd." He later told reporters at his home that he thought his "son was dead."
The 12-year-old was taken from the home and stayed in police custody overnight. Craig said that authorities are unsure if the boy had been in the basement the entire time, though they did find bedding, soda and cereal there.
Now investigators are trying to discover what happened. Charlie Bothuell IV has already taken a polygraph test and the results were inconclusive, but the boy's stepmother has refused to take a polygraph test.
