March 29--CLEVELAND -- As the sun set Wednesday, investigators hunkered down for another long night of searching the alligator- and snake-infested bayous and woods for a toddler who vanished from his Liberty County home after being put down for a nap.
The photo of 2-year-old Devin Davis -- with his red curls, blue eyes and mischievous grin -- provided strong motivation for the more than 100 law enforcement officers and firefighters combing the river bottomland surrounding the two-story wooden house east of Cleveland where Devin lived.
"Every minute, every hour that passes without finding this boy -- is agonizing for all of us out here," said Liberty County sheriff's spokesman Rex Evans, as the second day of searching drew to an end.
Many were showing signs of exhaustion after trudging for hours through murky waist-deep water in creeks and bayous.
Those using four wheelers and horses to navigate the dense brambles and underbrush of the forest that links the waterways were also weary. And the heat-sensing infrared devices on the Texas Department of Public Safety's helicopter had difficulty penetrating the thick foliage and had gotten zero hits, authorities said.
"It's dangerous as hell for any 2-year-old to be wandering around here without an adult," said Keith Brooks, who has lived in the area for 45 years. "There's poisonous snakes, all kinds of gators and wild hogs that will tear you up. Many of those gators and hogs would look at a baby as a meal."
The boy's mother, April Davis, told authorities that she last saw her son when she put him and his 1-year-old sister down for a nap about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
She and her husband, Mike, and their children had moved there from Virginia just a week earlier after an old U.S. Army buddy helped him get a welding machinist job.
The friend, Bobby Herren, also invited them to live temporarily with him and his girlfriend in their home in Sam Houston Lake Estates, said Herren's mother, Gwen Sale.
Davis, who served in Bosnia and Iraq before his discharge from the Army, had become good friends with Herren while both were stationed at Fort Polk, Sale said.
On the day Devin disappeared, April Davis was home alone with the children. Her husband and Herren were working a job in St Charles, La., and Herren's girlfriend was at work at the New Caney post office, family members said.
Both April and Mike Davis declined comment. She burst into tears when hugged by a well-wisher and sat anxiously waiting by the creek bank behind their house until taken by FBI authorities to give a formal statement.
She told investigators that she had bolted the lock on the front door while her children slept and then had fallen asleep for a few minutes.
When she somehow "startled" into waking, she found her son was missing and the front door wide open.
She also told investigators the doors to her Jeep were also ajar, though she had left them closed.
Frantically, she raced around looking and calling for him for about 35 minutes before dialing 911, which eventually triggered an Amber alert.
Evans said the investigation has found nothing so far that indicates the boy's disappearance was anything more than an accident, but he is not ruling out the possibility of foul play.
Copyright 2012 - Houston Chronicle
