DAYTON — A person of interest is in custody, and police are investigating the death of a missing child whose body was found hours after he was reported missing.
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As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, 8-year-old Hershall Creachbaum was reported missing around 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
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News Center 7 previously reported that his family reported him missing from a home in the 400 block of Xenia Ave.
Hours later, around 7:30 a.m. Saturday evening, police found a body believed to be Creachbuam’s less than half a mile from where he was reported missing.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to News Center 7 that Michael Kendrick currently sits in the Montgomery County Jail in connection with the boy’s death.
Kendrick is being held on suspicion of Murder, Felonious Assault, Child Endangering, Tampering with Evidence, Obstructing Justice, and Abuse of a Corpse Charges, according to jail records.
Creachbaum’s family told News Center 7 that Kendrick was dating the boy’s mom.
His grandmother, Missy Rowland Creachbaum, said that Creachbaum has autism and was nonverbal, and used a wheelchair to get around.
“Everybody loved him, anybody that came in contact with Hershall, they had to love him,” Creachbaum said.
Police are still working out the details in the case, and his family is in the planning stages of his funeral.
News Center 7 will continue following this story.
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