Was Missing Baby Chance Walsh Murdered?
Where is Chance Walsh? The nine-week-0ld Florida infant has reportedly been missing since September 9th — exactly one month. However, according to The St. Augustine Record, authorities did not become involved in this case until the past week, nearly a month after the lad was last seen. Now his parents are in jail, and charged with child neglect. The parents have also given multiple conflicting stories surrounding what may have happened to him, leading authorities — and the public — to fear the worst.
ABC Action News reports that a friend close to the missing child’s family has shared shocking information pertaining to his disappearance. According to Lauren Bowman, the infant’s mother (Kristen Bury) has a history surrounding the death of her own children. She reportedly lost a son two weeks after he was born, in a reported medical incident that took place a year ago. North Port Police say that there is no reason to suspect foul play in the death of Bury’s other child, citing that the infant died of “acute kidney infection.”
Regardless of the details surrounding the death of Kristen Bury’s other child, the disappearance of nine-week-old Chance Walsh is wrought with suspicion — and inconsistency. Sarasota County Sheriff’s arrest documents indicate that both Bury and the child’s father (Joseph Walsh) have given differing stories regarding what may have happened to the infant. They both reportedly told at least one person that the baby died in a car accident. However, they also told another person that they handed the baby away to a stranger that they had met at a motel in Georgia. Authorities do not know which story is true, or if either of the stories have a lick of truth to them.
Both Walsh and Bury are known to be drug users, who reportedly left Florida in September around the time their child was last seen alive. They were seen in Georgia at the Red Carpet Inn around September 28, where they were reportedly trying to sell baby items to strangers. They had claimed at this point that their baby had been dead — in an accident — for approximately three weeks.
Authorities have used cadaver dogs in the search for missing baby Chance Walsh, which has returned unsettling findings. Not only did the dogs “hit” on the scent of human cadaverine in the Florida home of the couple, human blood was found in the home near the front door. The disturbing find has been reported as a “blood splatter.”
Sarasota County Sheriff’s authorities have charged the parents — 36-year-old Joseph Walsh and 32-year-old Kristen Bury — with child neglect. However, it’s not known at this time what kind of details have contributed to this particular charge. It should be noted that investigators have not clarified on whether or not they believe the parents may have harmed baby Chance either on purpose or on accident, nor have they clarified on whether or not they have hope in finding the infant alive. With the cadaver dog discovery and the “blood splatter” evidence, it’s difficult to say that this case could even have a happy ending.
Authorities have confirmed that, even though the couple were indeed in a car accident on October 2 of this year, they did not have the baby with them at the time. So this casts further doubt on the conflicting stories offered by both Bury and Walsh. Currently multiple investigative bodies in more than one state are assisting in the search, including the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited children. If you have any information that could prove helpful to this case, or if you believe you may have sighted something pertaining to the disappearance of Chance Walsh, please do not hesitate to contact the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office at (941) 861-5800.
[Photo: Sarasota County Sheriff mugshot/Kristen Bury and Joseph Walsh]
