DICKSON, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tennessee Bureau of investigation is testing hair found on a shovel that could potentially be linked to the disappearance of Joe Clyde Daniels, also known as Baby Joe.
According to 23rd Judicial District Attorney Ray Crouch, a shovel was found that had blood on it that was confirmed to belong to Joe Daniels, the father of Baby Joe.
Crouch would not say where the shovel was found.
A hair sample was also taken from the shovel. It has not been identified at this time, and the TBI says they do not have the capability to test mitochondrial DNA.
The sample must be sent out to a private lab for testing, and results will not be ready for several months.
The TBI declined to comment on their ongoing investigation.
Baby Joe was reported missing by his parents on April 4, 2018. Hundreds of law enforcement and the community gathered to search for the boy, hoping he was still alive.
A few days later, on April 7, Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe made the announcement that Joseph Daniels had been charged with criminal homicide in the death of his son.
An arrest report stated that Daniels admitted to striking his son “repeatedly in the body, upper torso, head and face with a closed fist” until his son was dead.
It went on to say “Daniels then placed the body of his five-year-old son in the trunk of the car and disposed of his son’s body in a remote, rural area.”
The child’s mother Krystal Daniels was arrested two days later and charged with aggravated child abuse.
Investigators said she did nothing while her son was beaten and went to sleep while her husband left with the boy’s body.
Trials for both Joseph and Krystal Daniels are scheduled for Feb. 2020. The cases will be tried in Dickson County, but jurors will be chosen from outside the region.
The body of the boy has still not been recovered.
