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Michigan boy, missing for 11 days, found safe in dad's basement

(CNN) -- An 11-day search for a missing Michigan boy came to a bizarre conclusion Wednesday when he was discovered alive and well, hidden in the basement of his father's home in Detroit.

Finding 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell resolves the key issue in the missing-child case, but the circumstances of his discovery leave numerous other questions hanging.

"I've never seen anything quite like this," Detroit Police Chief James Craig told CNN affiliate WXYZ.

"We found him barricaded in the basement, behind boxes and a large five-gallon drum. There's no way he could have erected this makeshift area of concealment."

Adding to the drama, Charlie's father, Charles Bothuell IV, heard the revelation that the child had been found during a live TV interview with HLN's Nancy Grace.



When Grace told him the news, Bothuell became visibly upset, looking dazed and bewildered, breathing hard and clutching his chest.

When he recovered enough to speak, he said he had no idea how his son could have turned up in his house.

"I checked my basement," Bothuell said. "The FBI checked my basement. The police checked my basement. My wife checked my basement. I've been down there several times. We've all been checking."

A desperate search

Charlie disappeared on June 14, a Saturday night, when he walked out of the house.

"He had -- you know, not done some of his chores and instead of arguing at him or fussing or anything, my wife just said OK," his father told Nancy Grace during an earlier appearance. "I got a call back from my wife at 9:45 saying that Charlie was gone."

The father said the family then launched a desperate search.

"I've been going door to door since he disappeared," he said. "We didn`t sleep. We did fliers. We called family members. And we have been doing everything we can since to get the word out to get our son back home."

Questions left hanging

Craig, the police chief, said investigators had searched the home four times, including once with a cadaver dog.

"We're not certain Charlie was here during those visits," he said.

When he was found, Charlie was excited to see the officers, Craig said. He was taken to receive medical treatment.

The police chief was asked during an impromptu news conference Wednesday whether an adult was responsible for hiding the boy in the basement.

"We're not ruling that out," he said. "It would be hard for me to sit here and tell you that someone didn't know Charlie was there, but I can't say definitively."

'I love my son'

Later, following his HLN interview, Bothuell told reporters he was shocked by the discovery of his son in his basement, responding angrily to reporters' questions about who might have known Charlie was there.

"For anybody to imply that I somehow knew my son was in the basement is absurd and wrong. I love my son. I'm glad that he's home," Bothuell said.

He became overcome with emotion when a reporter asked him about earlier erroneous reports that Charlie may have been the victim of a homicide.

"I thought my son was dead," he said, beginning to cry.

His distress deepened further when he was asked if he'd seen Charlie yet.

"No, I haven't," he said.

"I want to see my son," he cried, before breaking into sobs and burying his face in the chest of the male reporter standing next to him.

"... Vanity is a motive of immense potency. Anyone who has much to do with children knows how they are constantly performing some antic, and saying «Look at me». «Look at me» is one of the most fundamental desires of the human heart. It can take innumerable forms, from buffoonery to the pursuit of posthumous fame. There was a Renaissance Italian princeling who was asked by the priest on his deathbed if he had anything to repent of. «Yes», he said, «there is one thing. On one occasion I had a visit from the Emperor and the Pope simultaneously. I took them to the top of my tower to see the view, and I neglected the opportunity to throw them both down, which would have given me immortal fame». History does not relate whether the priest gave him absolution. One of the troubles about vanity is that it grows with what it feeds on. The more you are talked about, the more you will wish to be talked about. The condemned murderer who is allowed to see the account of his trial in the press is indignant if he finds a newspaper which has reported it inadequately. And the more he finds about himself in other newspapers, the more indignant he will be with the one whose reports are meagre. Politicians and literary men are in the same case. And the more famous they become, the more difficult the press-cutting agency finds it to satisfy them. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence of vanity throughout the range of human life, from the child of three to the potentate at whose frown the world trembles. Mankind have even committed the impiety of attributing similar desires to the Deity, whom they imagine avid for continual praise. ... "

People like attention, fame, and will do pathological things to get it.

Missing boy found in basement said told by mom: ‘Not to come out no matter what’

The stepmother of a 12-year-old boy who was found hiding in a Detroit basement told him "not to come out, no matter what he hears," according to court documents.

Charlie Bothuell had been missing for 11 days when he was found in the basement.

The court petition also stated that Charlie had scars on his chest and buttocks.

He said the scar was the result of his father "driving a PVC pipe into his chest."
Charlie Bothuell V, 12, had signs of abuse on his body when he was found. Charlie Bothuell V, 12, had signs of abuse on his body when he was found.


Although his stepmom, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, knew he was in the basement, she did not take him food, the court petition claimed.

"Chalie reports sneaking upstairs to get food when everyone left home," the petition said, reported freep.com.

The court also heard that Charlie's two younger siblings, aged four and 10 months, have been removed from the custody of parents Dillard-Bothuell and Charlie Bothuell IV and taken into care.[they're lucky too]

The court petition added that the children are "without proper care and custody".

Charlie Bothuell IV has denied abusing his son.[This guy is probably crazy enough to honestly believe that what he was doing wasn't abuse]

When the house was searched by officers looking for the youngster they found a gun.

Dillard-Bothuell has pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, which violated her probation.

She will spend the weekend in prison despite being ordered to be released from jail. She will be fitted with a tether on Monday then released.

Missing Boy Found in Parents’ Basement Allegedly Abused

12-year-old Detroit boy who was found alive in his family’s basement after being missing for more than a week reportedly told investigators he had been abused, Click on Detroit reported Friday.

A medical examination of Charlie Bothuell also showed signs of physical abuse, the report says. The child’s stepmother, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, allegedly knew he was hiding in the basement throughout the intensive 11-day, citywide search and reportedly ordered him to remain there, the report says.

No charges have been filed in the ongoing investigation of Dillard-Bothuell and the child’s father, Charles Bothuell IV, the news site says. Child Protective Services removed two younger children from the Bothuell home Thursday, Click on Detroit also reported.



Forensic experts are going over the family computer and an iPad, the report says. It added that blood found in the house is being tested and that an FBI expert will interview the boy next week.

Charlie was homeschooled and had to adhere to a rigid schedule, including doing “4,000 strides on an elliptical machine without a break,” the report says. On the day of his disappearance, the report says, he went into hiding because he was fearful of incurring his parents’ wrath after hopping off the machine to go to the bathroom.

Detroit police discovered the child Wednesday at his family’s townhouse where he was barricaded in a closet of his family’s in the basement of the co-op complex. He had access to a bathroom.

Adding another layer of complexity to the story, police arrested Dillard-Bothuell, 37, on Thursday on a parole violation unrelated to the child’s disappearance, Click on Detroit reports. She appeared in court Friday, and defense attorneys plan to contest the charge. A hearing is scheduled for July 11.