Arrest for filicide of Autistic in Tennessee

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Baby Joe” had slipped out of the house before, his parents told reporters, but never in the middle of the night and never for this long.

Joe Clyde Daniels’s parents told investigators that they went to wake the 5-year-old for school around 5:20 a.m. Wednesday, but he was gone.

His parents said they usually located him within shouting distance of their house in Dickson, about 50 miles west of Nashville.

On Saturday, the search for a missing boy turned into a murder investigation after his father’s confession, authorities said.

Daniels told investigators that he killed his 5-year-old son, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, then hid the boy’s 65-pound body.

Daniels has been arrested and charged with criminal homicide, authorities said. He is being held in jail, with bail set at $1 million. It was unclear whether he had hired or been appointed an attorney.

Investigators have not released a motive — or even said whether Clyde gave one when he confessed.

Authorities did not immediately suspect foul play when Joe’s family called them Wednesday.

Krystal Nicole Daniels, is behind bars on $1 million bond after being detained Monday for aggravated child neglect or endangerment.

The affidavit against Joe’s mother, which PEOPLE obtained Tuesday, alleges she was present for the alleged beating and “failed to report the abuse and resulting homicide” of her child.

The complaint further alleges Krystal Daniels was “aware of the injury inflicted to Joe Clyde Daniels at the hands of Joseph Daniels and was aware the Joseph Daniels disposed of Joe Clyde Daniels’ body.”

It adds: “Krystal Daniels failed to report the injuries, abuse, and/or homicide despite multiple opportunities” to do so, and allegedly “took active steps to obfuscate the abuse and homicide” of her child.

Krystal Daniels has not entered a plea to the charge. Neither her nor her husband has retained legal counsel who could comment on the allegations.

The mother of a 5-year-old boy who was reported missing in Tennessee last week told police she was present when her son was killed, CNN affiliate WKRN reported, citing court documents.

It's unclear whether she has an attorney.

Joseph Daniels was convicted Saturday on multiple charges, including felony murder and second-degree murder, for fatally beating his five-year-old son, Joe Clyde, known as “Baby Joe.”

The jury began deliberating around 2 p.m. Friday and returned the guilty verdict just before noon Saturday, following a weeklong trial in Dickson County.

The jury found Joseph Daniels guilty of five charges, including first-degree murder in perpetration of a felony, second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, filing a false report, and evidence tampering.

Joseph Daniels will serve life in prison with the possibility of parole on the murder charges. He will be sentenced for the additional charges during a hearing scheduled for Sept. 14 at 1 p.m

ake Lockert, the public defender representing Joseph Daniels, has argued that his client’s confession was coerced, but the judge allowed it to be played and used as evidence in the trial.

The jury, which consisted of 12 members, was chosen from a pool of people in Chattanooga, all of which the judge said had never heard the name “Baby Joe.”

Krystal Daniels witnessed the fatal beating, but went to bed instead of helping her son, according to investigators.

She is charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect and will go to trial at a later date that has not been determined.