Remains of unidentified boy found at New Mexico compound

AMALIA, N.M. — Searchers found the remains of a boy on property where authorities raided a makeshift compound last week in search of a missing Georgia child, authorities said Tuesday.

The remains were found Monday during a search in Amalia, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said. Authorities were awaiting a positive identification of the remains.

The search for Abdulghani of Georgia led authorities Friday to the squalid compound where they found the father of the missing boy, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, four other adults and 11 children living in filthy conditions.

“We discovered the remains yesterday on Abdul’s fourth birthday,” Hogrefe said, appearing to fight back tears.

The sheriff said authorities returned to the compound after interviews Friday and Saturday. He said information he and other law enforcement agencies obtained led them to believe the boy might still be on the property.

“We had a good idea of a target location to look for the child.” he said

The father of the boy has been accused of leaving Georgia in December with his then 3-year-old son.

Wahhaj was expected to appear in court today on a previous warrant from Georgia that seeks his extradition to face a charge of abducting his son, Abdulghani, from that state last December.

According to the extradition warrant, Wahhaj told the boy’s mother he wanted to perform an exorcism on the child, who suffered from seizures, because he believed the 3-year-old was possessed by the devil. The mother told police Wahhaj took the boy for a trip to a park and never returned.

Abdul-ghani was believed to have been at the Amalia compound as recently as several weeks ago, Hogrefe said.

The warrant said the boy suffered from severe medical issues including hypoxicischemic encephalopathy, a defect caused by lack of oxygen and blood flow around the time of birth.

The boy’s mother said the boy can’t walk and requires constant attention.

Property owner Jason Badger said he and his wife had pressed authorities to remove the group from the makeshift compound on his land.

However, it took a plea for help and the search for the missing boy to finally draw sheriff’s deputies to the desolate site walled off by stacks of old tires, wooden pallets and other debris.

Badger said he had concerns about the compound near the Colorado border. But he said the courts and other authorities shot down his attempts to break up the encampment — described as a trailer buried in the ground in Amalia, just south of the New Mexico-Colorado line.

Court records show a judge dismissed an eviction notice filed by Badger against Lucas Morton in June. The records didn’t provide further details on the judge’s decision.

Morton was among the five adults arrested after the Taos County sheriff raided the compound.

The adults, including the missing boy’s father, have been charged with child abuse. A hearing was expected today.

Children ages 1 to 15 were rescued from the compound that had been under investigation for months.

Hogrefe said FBI agents had surveilled the area a few weeks ago but did not find probable cause to search the property. An FBI spokesman didn’t immediately return a call by The Associated Press seeking comment.

Authorities staged a raid after someone believed to have been in the compound sent out a message for help that said: “We are starving and need food and water.”

It wasn’t clear who sent the message or how it was communicated. Georgia detectives forwarded the message to the Taos County Sheriff’s Office.