Braylen Noble: Search warrant released after autistic tot found dead in pool

A search warrant has been released in connection with a 3-year-old Ohio boy found deceased earlier this month.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, authorities surrounded the pool area at the Hunter’s Ridge Apartment Complex in Toledo on September 10, while a Toledo Police Department spokesperson confirmed a child’s deceased body had been recovered from inside the pool.

The child was identified as Braylen Noble, a non-verbal autistic toddler who disappeared on September 4 while at an apartment he shared with his mother and grandmother. Preliminary autopsy results indicated that there was no trauma found on the boy, but a medical examiner said it’s too soon to say whether he drowned or not. A toxicology report is pending.

According to the search warrant, the boy’s mother, Danjae Cox, and his grandmother, Bobbie Jones, contacted 911 after they couldn’t find Braylen. Cox said she came in from her apartment balcony and Jones told her that Braylen went to his room and shut the door.

When Cox went to the boy’s room, he was gone, according to what she told police. Cox and Jones then searched the apartment complex, swimming pool, and a nearby pond without luck. Police then executed an “exhaustive search” for days, including several initial searches at the pool, but didn’t find the boy.

Investigators seized numerous items from inside the family’s apartment, including

A cigarette butt found on a chair on the balcony
An Amazon tablet found in the living room
A Samsung tablet found on a stereo in the living room
Two cellphones found on top of a microwave in the kitchen
A ZTE cellphone found in a bathroom medicine cabinet
A Samsung cellphone found on the bathroom sink
An HTC cellphone found in a bathroom medicine cabinet
A claw hammer found in a closet
Another Samsung cellphone found in a closet
A box of Glad trash bags found in the kitchen
A 2012 Black Jeep Liberty registered to Bobbie Johnson

Bobbie Johnson told a 911 dispatcher that three large windows in the apartment had been left open on the day Braylen disappeared.

“We’ve been looking for him for over a good 30 minutes. He fell out this window,” Bobbie said. “I’m hoping he’s okay but we don’t know where he is. We walked the whole grounds.”

Braylen was eventually found in the swimming pool at the apartment complex, although authorities reiterated that the area had already been searched numerous times.

“It’s common practice in police investigations, once an area is searched, if nothing found, to go back and revisit that search area and see if anything was missed,” Lt. Kellie Lenhardt told ABC 13.

“But we do want to reiterate that the area was searched numerous times by Toledo Fire and Rescue, the FBI, private search groups, and both live and cadaver dogs.”

So far, there have been no arrests in connection with the case.

Check back for updates.

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