Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon told reporters that Koah Sharpe was found in a patch of freshly turned earth about 50 yards behind the home of the child's grandfather. The boy was taken to a hospital for evaluation after rescuers uncovered him.

"As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying," Koon said at a Tuesday news conference. "So as you can imagine, the race was on. Everybody's getting down there trying to get him out."

The sheriff described the child as "clinging to life" when he was lifted from the hole and called the sound of his cries "the most joyful sound you've ever heard of a crying baby."

According to the sheriff's account, Koah's mother left the family's home around noon Monday to run an errand, leaving the boy with his father, Michael Comer. A second caregiver was expected to arrive afterward, but when that person showed up, both the infant and his father were gone.

Surveillance video later placed Comer in the Batesburg-Leesville area without the baby, Koon said. "We got worried," he said. "Hoping and praying that he dropped the baby with another person. As the day went on and nobody came forward, it was certainly more and more concerning."

Comer was arrested Monday night and charged with burglary, according to jail records. Koon said the father did not tell investigators where the child was. As of Wednesday morning, Comer remained in custody without bond, and the sheriff said authorities were still determining what additional charges to pursue.

The break in the search came Tuesday, when a search party spotted the disturbed ground behind the grandfather's house. Investigators were called in to examine the area, and the digging began once they heard the infant.

Koon said the crate was wrapped in a towel, which he believes created an air pocket around the wire enclosure and allowed the child to keep breathing. He described the hole as shallow and estimated the boy had been underground for approximately 24 hours.

The case has shaken a rural corner of Lexington County, where neighbors and search volunteers had spent Monday night and Tuesday morning hoping for a different outcome. The sheriff credited the searchers who found the site and the investigators who moved quickly once the cries were heard.

Koah's condition was not immediately disclosed beyond the sheriff's description that he was alive when rescued. The investigation remains active, and the sheriff's office has not said whether additional arrests are expected.