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Grandfather: Remains at New Mexico compound are missing boy

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They're going to get you Eddie!

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. 
Authorities 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 well-known 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.

A Georgia arrest warrant accused the boy's father, Siraj Ibn 
Wahhaj, the imam's son, of kidnapping the child. Authorities 
said the father at some point told his wife he wanted to perform 
an exorcism on the boy, who cannot walk, suffers seizures and 
requires constant attention because of a lack of oxygen and 
blood flow at birth.

The child's father was among five adults arrested on suspicion 
of child abuse in the raid at the compound. In court papers, 
prosecutors also said Wahhaj had been training children there to 
carry out school shootings.

Speaking at his Brooklyn mosque, the elder Wahhaj said his 
family was trying to make arrangements to bring the child's body 
to Georgia.

All 11 of the children, he said, were either his biological 
grandchildren or members of his family through marriage.

"I'm very concerned with the condition of my grandchildren," he 
said. He said he didn't understand why his son had taken the 
family and disappeared into the desert, but suggested a 
psychiatric disorder was to blame.

"My son can be maybe a little bit extreme," he said, though he 
added that he never thought he was extreme enough to kill 
anyone. "High-strung," he said.

The grandfather's mosque that has attracted radicals over the 
years, including a man who later helped bomb the World Trade 
Center in 1993.

New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator said it was 
still working to identify the remains.

Dr. Kurt Nolte, New Mexico's chief medical investigator, said 
the remains "are in a state of decomposition that has made 
identification challenging."

The remains will stay in New Mexico until the agency's 
investigation is completed — a process that could take weeks, 
said office spokeswoman Alexandria Sanchez.

Taos-area District Attorney Donald Gallegos said he will await 
the findings on how the boy died.

The group arrived in the desert area in December, according to 
neighbors. Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said the FBI put the place 
under surveillance in recent months that included photographs of 
the compound and interviews.

He said the images were shared with the mother of Abdul-ghani, 
but she did not spot her son, and the photographs never 
indicated the father was at the compound, leaving the sheriff 
without the information he needed to obtain a search warrant.

That changed when Georgia authorities received word that 
children inside the compound were starving, Hogrefe said.

The elder Wahhaj said the tip came to law enforcement through 
him. He said he was able to report the group's whereabouts to 
authorities last week after his daughter, one of the five adults 
at the site, sent a note to a man in Atlanta saying they were 
starving and asking for food.

That man then notified Wahhaj, who said he decided to send food 
and contact police.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/09/grandfather-remains-at-new-
mexico-compound-are-missing-boy.html

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Grandfather: Remains at New Mexico compound are missing boy "Woody" <woody@lobos.com> - 2018-08-10 04:07 +0200

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