Last week, the world was made aware of a rural New Mexico compound where 11 emaciated children were discovered and now, it seems authorities have discovered the remains of a young boy as well.
It is still unclear if the remains uncovered this week are those of missing Georgia boy, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, whose father was suspected of abducting him late last year from Clayton County, Georgia. However, according to Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe, an autopsy is pending.
The boy’s father, Siraj Wahhaj -a prominent and controversial New York imam- was arrested Friday with his sisters Hujrah Wahhaj and Subhannah Wahhaj after authorities raided the compound. Two additional adults, Lucas Morten and Jany Leveille, were also arrested and have all been accused of keeping the children in an underground trailer with virtually no food or water.
Authorities in New Mexico suspected the father and son might be at the compound after learning in May about the abduction but they didn’t have enough evidence for a search warrant and surveillance of the property didn’t give them much to go on.
The ‘breaking point’ in the search for the little boy “came last Thursday when New Mexico authorities received a tip about possible starving children living on the compound, the sheriff said. He said he felt investigators had enough probable cause to put in an affidavit for a search warrant. The sheriff said authorities learned more details after the raid and returned Monday with a good idea of where to search for Abdul-Ghani.”1
Abdul-Ghani’s mother, Hakima Ramzi, knew her husband wanted to rid their then 3-year-old son of his medical problems but had no idea he’d disappear with their son for nine months, telling CNN:
“My husband said he was taking Abdul-Ghani to the park, and didn’t come back. That was in November 2017. When I would ask him where he was, he said he was on his way, he was coming soon, he was just keeping him for the night. But I haven’t seen him since then.”1
(Abdul-Ghani has hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy; he cannot walk, suffers from seizures and requires constant medical attention.)
The children were found in a trailer with no plumbing and with just a few potatoes and a box of rice available to eat. After being taken into protective custody they were later turned over to the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department.
We will update you as more information becomes available.
