A toddler who went missing Tuesday night from Centuria, Wisconsin was found dead in the trunk of a locked car outside the boy’s home Wednesday night.
Isaiah Theis was last seen around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday playing with his older brother outside of their home, about 60 miles northeast of St. Paul, Minnesota.
After his parents realized he had disappeared, over 2,450 civilian volunteers searched the woods and fields around the family’s home Tuesday night into Wednesday despite the sweltering heat.
Isaiah’s father is a mechanic who works from home, so the children in the family are used to being around the shop. The car that Isaiah was discovered in belonged to one of his father’s customers and was parked outside their house, waiting to be fixed.
The Associated Press reports that Chief Deputy Steve Moe said they searched in and around the car several times, but he wished they had decided to force open the trunk.
Volunteers and police assumed that Isaiah had wandered off, and since they did not have keys to get into the owner’s car, they did not open the locked trunk. When the owner returned to his car Wednesday night police unlocked the trunk and found Isaiah’s body.
According to Twincities.com investigators do not yet know if the death was accidental or if there was foul play involved, and will know more after the autopsy done by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office.