Sarasota Sheriff: Infant's Body Recovered

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has announced that the search for a missing North Port infant has likely come to a sad end.

An infant’s body, believed to be Chance Walsh, was found Thursday afternoon off Elliot Court. Forensics units had been in that area of North Port for the better part of Thursday, following up on a lead in the case.

“Many people have worked tirelessly with the hope of bringing Chance home alive,” Sheriff’s Tom Knight said in a press conference following the Friday discovery.

Detectives were led to the Elliot Court location after receiving new information in the case, the sheriff’s said. “And, we have confirmed our worst fears.”

A final determination on whether the body found is indeed Chance will come from the Medical Examiner’s Office, Knight said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Chance’s grandparents and other family members at this time.”

The search for Chance began on Oct. 4 when his maternal grandmother contacted the Sarasota sheriff’s office to say she had not seen the then 9-week-old baby since Sept. 9, the sheriff’s office said. She and the boy’s paternal grandmother made a number of attempts to check on the baby’s welfare.

Chance’s parents, Kristen Bury and Joseph Walsh, “are longtime drug users,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a media release last week.

Family members heard from the couple that they had been involved in a car accident in South Carolina. The couple, the sheriff’s office said, provided conflicting reports about Chance in relation to the crash. They told some relatives that Chance was unharmed, but others heard the boy died, the sheriff’s office said. Still another relative was told the baby was given to a women at a hotel in Georgia.

“Detectives confirmed with South Carolina law enforcement that there was no baby in the vehicle at the time of the crash and no room for a car seat,” the release said. “They also confirmed with Georgia law enforcement that the couple stayed at an Augusta hotel but there was no baby with them. A woman staying at the hotel reported that Kristen tried to sell baby clothes to her and that Kristen told her the baby had died three weeks earlier.”

Walsh and Bury were charged with child neglect by the sheriff’s office and were brought into custody in Jasper County, South Carolina. It is unclear whether they’ll face additional charges after the baby’s Friday discovery.

Photo courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office