This is a bizarre story, and I’ll be surprised if we don’t learn of more details later this week that suggests a not-as-happy ending to the tale. Here are the details from The Detroit Free Press: 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell V was reported missing on June 14th. His father notified the authorities, and over the last ten days, an exhaustive search was conducted by police, the FBI, and even cadaver dogs. Unable to locate the body, police began to suspect homicide, and the father and stepmother of Charlie were certainly suspects in that investigation (the stepmother refused to take a polygraph).
Last night, while being interviewed about the case on air by Nancy Grace, Charlie Bothuel learned that his son had been found. In the basement. Of the father’s house. As you can see from the video, the father is completely stunned. It’s almost as though the news knocked the air out of him.
The other weird twist — besides the fact that after 10 days of searching, he hadn’t already been found in the basement — is that the child had been concealed by a makeshift barricade that police don’t believe the child could have made. The kid was crouched behind a large container, and there appeared to be food nearby, and while the child didn’t call out, he was very happy to see the police.
Hmmm. Why was the kid in the basement? Why was he concealed behind a barricade? Why did he have food? The father claims he had no idea his son was in the basement. Somebody had to know. Somebody had to create the barrier. Somebody had to bring him food. That sounds seriously sketchy.
Source: Detroit Free Press
