Missing S.C. 4 year old

[ItsMeTwinA]

Volunteers asked to help search for boy

Police are asking for volunteers to help look for a 4-year-old boy missing since about 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Javeion Mayes was last seen playing outside his home a few miles from downtown Greenville, Police Chief Terri Wilfong said.

Searchers became increasingly worried as Tuesday wore on, with temperatures in Greenville reaching at least 98 degrees. Police think the boy wandered off and have not issued an Amber Alert. At least 30 officers are searching for the boy.

[ItsMeTwinA]

UPDATE:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The father of a child that has been missing for a day and a half has been arrested.
Greenville Police Chief Terri Wilfong held a news conference Wednesday afternoon to announce the charges against Christopher Wilson.
Wilson is charged with legal guardian neglect of child or helpless person, a felony. He is being held on $75,000 bond. Wilfong said evidence in the home led to the charges, but she would not be specific because the investigation is ongoing When asked if Wilson is a suspect in the disappearance of his 4-year-old son, Javeion Mayes, Wilfong answered, "At this time, he is a suspect."
Wilfong indicated that it was likely the search could be for the child's body, saying that the heat would be a factor in the "decomposing of a body."
Javeion was last seen early Tuesday morning at his home on Hollywood Circle in the Greenline community of Greenville. The neighborhood is located between East North Street and Stone Avenue.
Dozens of police and as many as 200 volunteers have canvassed the neighborhood in search of Javeion.
Wilfong said a valuable window of opportunity to find the child was lost because Wilson didn't call police immediately. The arrest affadavit said that "approximately four hours passed in 100 degree temperatures before authorities were notified and a search was begun."
Wilfong said she has been asked why there has not been an Amber Alert for Javeion, and she explained that his disappearance does not meet the criteria for an alert since there is no vehicle or suspect description.
Wilfong said that seven search dogs have alerted to a particular spot in the area being searched for Javeion -- and now crews are trying to clear away some of the heavy kudzu vine that blankets that location.
She said officers will be conducting an arm-to-arm search of the area as it is cleared of underbrush and vines. She said the terrain is rough, so trying to search the area is very difficult, and with the extreme heat, the search dogs can only work for a few minutes at a time.

[ItsMeTwinA]

Sad news.

Searchers find body of 4-year-old
Boy's father arrested earlier for child neglect

Published: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - 3:41 pm
Updated: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - 10:05 pm


By Eric Connor
STAFF WRITER
[e-mail]


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The body of a small child Greenville police believe to be a 4-year-old boy
 missing for two days was found this afternoon in a thick patch of kudzu,
a block from the home where the missing child was last seen.

His father was charged in connection with the disappearance and was in
the Greenville County Detention Center on $75,000 bond, Greenville Police
Chief Terri Wilfong said.

About 65 authorities were slashing through kudzu with machetes when a
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent yelled "found a body" at
about 3:45 p.m. about 25 feet into a dense forest near Creekwood Town
Homes.

Greenville County Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis said he believes the body to be
that of Mayes and he was treating it as a "suspicious death." He said he
hadn?t made a positive identification, and an autopsy will be performed this
morning.

Javeion Mayes disappeared early Tuesday
morning from the home where he was staying with his father, Christopher
Lamar Wilson, on Hollywood Circle in the Greenline community, authorities said.

The 33-year-old Wilson has been charged with "unlawful neglect of a child
by a legal custodian," according to a warrant. It is a felony charge, authorities
said.

Mayes disappeared at about 8 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The warrant
alleges that Wilson left his son unsupervised and waited four hours to alert
authorities to his disappearance, putting the child "at an unreasonable risk
of harm" and affecting "his life and safety."

The boy and his twin brother, Taveion, were at the home with their father,
police said.

The two-day search in hopes of finding Javeion alive became a search for
 his body Wednesday after tracking dogs detected a smell, Wilfong said.

Authorities from various agencies as well as countless community volunteers
 scoured the area in record-breaking, 100-degree heat Tuesday and on into
 the night.

As the temperature rose Wednesday to more than 100 degrees, their hopes
 to find Mayes alive began to fade.