Utah Parents Who Forgot 3-Year-Old Boy In Corn Maze Overnight Now Under Police Investigation

The mystery of how parents left a 3-year-old boy in a corn maze and then forgot him overnight appears to be solved — at least in part — and now police have a new round of questions for the family.

The case out of Utah made national headlines last week, with employees at the corn maze finding the young boy alone in the corn maze near closing time. That kicked off a frantic search for the child’s parents, who could not be found anywhere. The young boy could not tell police where he lived or the names of his parents, and eventually officers had to call the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to take the boy overnight.

It was not until the next morning that the parents realized the boy was missing and called police.

In the days since that incident, more light has been shed on the circumstances that led to the boy’s disappearance. The Salt Lake Tribune was able to track down the boy’s father, who said he was in a “plural family” and has 14 children in all. The family had gone to the Crazy Corn Maze in West Jordan with 11 of the children, the father said, and his wife’s sister also came with two or three of her own children.

The family took several cars to the corn maze, and lost track of some of the children when they were getting in the cars to go home and some of the children went back for free doughnuts being given out by corn maze employees. The parents still did not notice they boy’s absence when the family arrived home and started going to bed, the New York Daily News noted. The father said that the 3-year-old boy often climbed into a bunk with one of his siblings, so it was not unusual that he was not in his bed when the lights went out.

How does a 3-year-old get left at a Utah corn maze? It’s a numbers issue, polygamous father says.https://t.co/qAiHxtIlf1 pic.twitter.com/EA4gqYlUyu

— The Salt Lake Tribune (@sltrib) October 12, 2017

Though the unusual family circumstances offers some explanation as to how the parents forgot their 3-year-old in a corn maze overnight, police in Utah still have questions for the couple.

“The fact that it took so long for them to realize the child was missing — was it purely an accident? What are the circumstances?” West Jordan Police Sgt. Joe Monson said in a press conference this week. “These are all questions investigators want to ask.”

It was not clear what charges the Utah parents could face for forgetting their 3-year-old in a corn maze overnight.

[Featured Image by Jodi Jacobson/iStock]