4-Month-Old Baby Found Dead in Well, Parents Charged With Murder

Bill Pan
By Bill Pan
June 14, 2019US News
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4-Month-Old Baby Found Dead in Well, Parents Charged With Murder
Daniel A. Groves and Jessica D. Groves are facing charges including abduction and kidnapping. (Scioto County Ohio Sheriff's Office)

Authorities in Ohio say the body of a 4-month-old boy has been found in a well and his parents have been arrested on charges including kidnapping, abduction, and murder.

Scioto County Sheriff Marty Donini said in a news release that the missing infant, Dylan Groves, was found June 12 in a well about 30 feet deep in Otway.

Dylan’s parents, 41-year-old Daniel A. Groves and 39-year-old Jessica D. Groves have been charged aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, endangering children, tampering with evidence, interference with custody, gross abuse of a corpse, and four counts of felonious assault.

“If the couple is found guilty on all counts they face up to life in prison,” said Captain John W. Murphy.

Born with illicit drugs in his system, Dylan Groves was taken into the custody of the Scioto County Children Services, shortly after his birth. He was allowed to return to his biological parents after Daniel A. Groves completing and agreeing to all of the requirements for family unification.

After the child was returned to his parents, according to Captain Murphy, Daniel had initially been compliant with all of the terms he agreed upon. However, as Daniel started to miss court dates, home visits, and doctor appointments for the child, the Scioto County Children Services couldn’t locate either the child or the father.

On May 3, 2019, a children’s services worker came to the Sheriff’s Office, requesting assistance in finding the child. Deputies, along with the caseworker, went to the Groves’ residence but nobody was home. They repeatedly returned to the house on multiple occasions in an attempt to locate the infant and father but without success.

The father and mother were eventually spotted by the police officers on May 20. They tried to get away in a car, resulting in a pursuit. The police officers returned to their residence with a search warrant and arrested Jessica Groves without incident. Daniel Groves, who barricaded himself inside, was taken into custody after a six-hour standoff.

Baby Girl Left in Plastic Bag in Georgia Woods Found Alive

Georgia authorities are searching for the mother of a newborn found wrapped in a plastic bag and abandoned in a wooded area in Cumming.

Residents of a nearby home were unloading their car after a trip on June 6 when they heard a noise coming from a secluded, wooded strip of land. At first, they thought they were animal sounds.

“[We] grabbed our flashlights and we’re driving around and we’re, like, ‘That doesn’t sound like an animal,'” Kayla Ragatz told CNN affiliate WSB.

They went into the woods and followed the sound to a pile of leaves and sticks, and then saw the baby wrapped in a plastic bag.

“You don’t anticipate hearing a baby in the woods,” Sheriff Ron H. Freeman told reporters Friday. “Thank God they went out and investigated.”

They called 911, and a baby girl believed to be hours-old was found in a plastic bag, Freeman said. Police and hospital staff involved in the baby’s rescue wanted her to have a name because they felt “like she is one of theirs,” he added. Instead of Baby Jane Doe, a local Forsyth County hospital named her India.

India is in a hospital receiving medical attention, and the Department of Family and Children’s Services will likely place her in foster care, Freeman said.

Law enforcement officials are canvassing the area, checking cameras and asking for the community’s assistance in figuring out how India got there.

If she was left there, the person involved could be charged with offenses such as abandonment and cruelty to children in the first degree.

But authorities are not going to speculate on criminal charges until they know what happened, Freeman said. Their priority is making sure India and the woman who gave birth to her are both safe and in good condition, he said.

Cumming is about 40 miles from Atlanta.

CNN Wire contributed to this report.

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