05-06-2011, 05:00 PM
the mother didn't want her kids. she left them with an evil convicted felon. the schools didn't miss him.
Daily Mail
The body of a 13-year-old boy, who was buried in a shallow grave and covered with concrete allegedly by his father has been unearthed by authorities.
Christian Choate, from Gary, Indiana, died in the spring of 2009 but unbelievably was not missed until Sunday night when his biological mother raised the alarm.
The mother told Lake County police she had found out from relatives that her son was buried in the Black Oak mobile home park in Gary.
She had handed Christian and a sister over to their biological father, Riley Lowell Choate, in 2005 because she didn't want to raise them, she added.
Choate, 39, who has a criminal history that includes battery, harassment and car theft, has so far been charged with the removal of a body from a death scene, failure to notify authorities of a death and failure to report a body to authorities.
Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said the charges were likely to be increased if an autopsy ruled the boy was murdered.
The initial results showed Christian suffered a 'blunt force trauma to his body with internal bleeding and a skull fracture,' according to court records.
Choate’s wife and Christian's stepmother is also in custody, Sheriff Buncich said, after the boy's sister told police she had helped Choate bury the boy.
Christian's sister, who has not been named, told police she had discovered her brother's lifeless body at their home in 2009, according to the Chicago Tribune.
She ran to her stepmother and was told to try to revive him. It didn't work. Christian was dead.
She then allegedly watched her father and stepmother wrap Christian's body in two plastic garbage bags, place him in a plastic bin and drive off with him in their van, Sheriff Buncich said.
The couple then returned covered in mud. The stepmother told the girl they had covered Christian 'in concrete so he couldn't get out,' according to authorities.
'This is a human being that just disappeared off the face of this earth,' Sheriff Buncich said in a news conference today.
'Someone should have said something. When it's a child, it just hits home. To be thrown away and buried like trash. No one should have that fate,' he added.
He also admitted that if the sheriff's office had never been tipped off, Christian may never have been found.
'He just fell through the cracks, unfortunately,' the sheriff said. 'How can a child just disappear and no one follow up?'
Police started to search for Christian on Monday using cadaver dogs, but found nothing.
On Wednesday, after questioning several family members, they caught up with Choate, the boy's father, who was taken in for questioning.
Choate admitted burying Christian in April 2009, Sheriff Buncich said.
He had told police: 'If I had to do it over, I'd have just called (police). But I was freaking out,' according to authorities.
However Choate claimed that it had been his daughter, not his wife, who had helped him bury Christian.
Christian's sister, now 17, is thought to have fled to Kentucky to live with other relatives after her brother disappeared, her relatives told the Chicago Tribune.
Choate then took police to the exact spot where he had buried the boy, saying he had wrapped his body in a blanket, put a bible on his chest and buried him. He then covered the grave with concrete, authorities said.
They then found Christian's badly decomposed body buried around two feet underground.
Choate had told neighbours Christian had run away, but he had not reported him missing, the sheriff said.
Alyssa Nieto, 18, who told the Tribune she was Christian's half-sister, said she couldn't understand why Choate had been given custody of the children in the first place.
'He's a convicted felon and he got custody. How could they give kids to a murderer? I'm happy he's arrested. He should be put away,' she said.
The other children who had been living with Choate and his wife have been taken into custody by the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Daily Mail
The body of a 13-year-old boy, who was buried in a shallow grave and covered with concrete allegedly by his father has been unearthed by authorities.
Christian Choate, from Gary, Indiana, died in the spring of 2009 but unbelievably was not missed until Sunday night when his biological mother raised the alarm.
The mother told Lake County police she had found out from relatives that her son was buried in the Black Oak mobile home park in Gary.
She had handed Christian and a sister over to their biological father, Riley Lowell Choate, in 2005 because she didn't want to raise them, she added.
Choate, 39, who has a criminal history that includes battery, harassment and car theft, has so far been charged with the removal of a body from a death scene, failure to notify authorities of a death and failure to report a body to authorities.
Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said the charges were likely to be increased if an autopsy ruled the boy was murdered.
The initial results showed Christian suffered a 'blunt force trauma to his body with internal bleeding and a skull fracture,' according to court records.
Choate’s wife and Christian's stepmother is also in custody, Sheriff Buncich said, after the boy's sister told police she had helped Choate bury the boy.
Christian's sister, who has not been named, told police she had discovered her brother's lifeless body at their home in 2009, according to the Chicago Tribune.
She ran to her stepmother and was told to try to revive him. It didn't work. Christian was dead.
She then allegedly watched her father and stepmother wrap Christian's body in two plastic garbage bags, place him in a plastic bin and drive off with him in their van, Sheriff Buncich said.
The couple then returned covered in mud. The stepmother told the girl they had covered Christian 'in concrete so he couldn't get out,' according to authorities.
'This is a human being that just disappeared off the face of this earth,' Sheriff Buncich said in a news conference today.
'Someone should have said something. When it's a child, it just hits home. To be thrown away and buried like trash. No one should have that fate,' he added.
He also admitted that if the sheriff's office had never been tipped off, Christian may never have been found.
'He just fell through the cracks, unfortunately,' the sheriff said. 'How can a child just disappear and no one follow up?'
Police started to search for Christian on Monday using cadaver dogs, but found nothing.
On Wednesday, after questioning several family members, they caught up with Choate, the boy's father, who was taken in for questioning.
Choate admitted burying Christian in April 2009, Sheriff Buncich said.
He had told police: 'If I had to do it over, I'd have just called (police). But I was freaking out,' according to authorities.
However Choate claimed that it had been his daughter, not his wife, who had helped him bury Christian.
Christian's sister, now 17, is thought to have fled to Kentucky to live with other relatives after her brother disappeared, her relatives told the Chicago Tribune.
Choate then took police to the exact spot where he had buried the boy, saying he had wrapped his body in a blanket, put a bible on his chest and buried him. He then covered the grave with concrete, authorities said.
They then found Christian's badly decomposed body buried around two feet underground.
Choate had told neighbours Christian had run away, but he had not reported him missing, the sheriff said.
Alyssa Nieto, 18, who told the Tribune she was Christian's half-sister, said she couldn't understand why Choate had been given custody of the children in the first place.
'He's a convicted felon and he got custody. How could they give kids to a murderer? I'm happy he's arrested. He should be put away,' she said.
The other children who had been living with Choate and his wife have been taken into custody by the Indiana Department of Child Services.