Grandfather: Remains at compound are missing boy

TAOS, N.M. » A severely disabled Georgia boy who authorities say was kidnapped by his father and marked for an exorcism was found buried at the ramshackle compound in the New Mexico desert that has been the focus of investigators for the past week, the toddler’s grandfather said Thursday.

New Mexico authorities, however, said they had yet to identify the remains, discovered Monday. And prosecutors said they were awaiting word on the cause of death before deciding on any charges.

The boy, Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, would have turned 4 Monday. Prosecutors said he was snatched from his mother in December in Jonesboro, Georgia, near Atlanta.

The search for him led authorities to New Mexico, where 11 hungry children and a youngster’s remains were found in recent days at a filthy compound shielded by old tires, wooden pallets and an earthen wall studded with broken glass.

The missing boy’s grandfather, Siraj Wahhaj, a Muslim cleric who leads a wellknown New York City mosque, told reporters he had learned from other family members that the remains were his grandson’s.

The imam said he did not know the cause of death.

“Whoever is responsible, then that person should be held accountable,” Wahhaj said.

In an interview with WSB-TV i n Atlanta, the boy’s mother also called for “justice” as she described how her life had been taken from her after her son was abducted by his father, which she said was out of character for him. She and Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the imam’s son, had been married almost 14 years.

“I wasn’t able to save my son,” she told the television station.