SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police believe they have found the body of missing 8-month-old King Jay Davila after his father took investigators to an open field near his neighborhood.
A detective with the San Antonio Police Department said Christopher Davila, King Jay's father, took investigators to the dead-end of Castle Lance to show investigators where he buried his son.
Here's everything we know about King Jay Davila's death, his father's arrest
The location is less than a mile from Davila's last known address in the 5800 block of Castle Brook Drive.
"It's something I suspected all along," Police Chief William McManus said at a news conference Friday morning, referencing his suspicions that the baby was dead.
"(It's a) sad day for everybody," said Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the FBI office in San Antonio.
Davila told detectives he was home with King Jay playing video games and his son was on the bed in a car seat but not strapped in, according to the affidavit.
Davila claims when he sat on the bed, the car seat fell to the floor with King Jay, causing the baby to land face-first on the floor. He may have also hit his head on a dresser, the affidavit said.
A large bump over the baby's eye began to form and Davila said he was afraid to call 911. He said when he checked on King Jay a few hours later, the baby was dead, according to the affidavit.
Davila led police to the open field near Castle Lance, where investigators dug up a black backpack with what appeared to be a baby's body wrapped in a blanket, according to an arrest affidavit.
"I think when the story started to unravel is when he started to break down," McManus said when asked why he thought Davila led police to his son's body. "He weakened, and figured that he's not just getting away with it. It seemed like a strong story in the beginning, to him but as the investigation continued that story got weaker and weaker."
A witness told police Jan. 3 he overheard Davila telling his mother and King Jay's paternal grandmother, Beatrice Sampayo, about his son falling and being injured. When Davila showed up the next day, the witness said he tried to go see King Jay and Davila told him, "Get the f--- back in the house." The witness said he then saw Davila's cousin, Angie Torres, look into Davila's car and she had a "shocked look on her face."
Another witness told police he saw Davila and Sampayo in the driveway "visibly upset and crying" and hugging each other.
A third witness, who was staying at Davila's house, told police he heard King Jay crying Jan. 3 and then saw Davila carrying his son in his car seat the next morning, according to the affidavit.
Davila drove Jan. 4 to the Friend's Food Mart in the 300 block of Old Highway 90 West on the city's West Side.
The store is less than a mile away from where Sampayo, King Jay's grandmother, lives in the 400 block of Parkside Drive.
At the store, Davila left his car running and the driver's side door unlocked while he went inside to buy a water and lottery tickets, police Chief William McManus said.
During that time, Torres was seen on surveillance footage getting into the car and driving away with what police believed was King Jay in the back seat.
Davila then called King Jay's mother, Jasmine Gonzales, who told him to get off the phone and call police.
Torres was later seen on surveillance carrying a car seat. McManus later said investigators determined King Jay was not in the car or the car seat at that time, ruling the event a staged kidnapping by Davila.
"This was not a car theft. This was not a kidnapping. This was a staged event," McManus said earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Torres, 45, told police she went to Sampayo's home the night of the staged kidnapping and Sampayo told her Davila "severely injured" his son, King Jay, according to the affidavit.
After the staged kidnapping, Torres said she was picked up by Sampayo, 65, at Rodriguez Park and disposed of the car seat as Davila instructed her to do. It is also where police said they later found Davila's car abandoned near the intersection of Arvil and Elmer streets.
An SAPD detective said surveillance footage confirms Torres' statement, which shows Sampayo and Torres arriving at a donation collection shed in the 700 block of South Acme Street.
The video shows Sampayo and Torres driving away after placing a car seat next to the donation shed. A minute later, the video shows Sampayo and Torres returning to the donation shed and picking up the car seat, the affidavit said.
An SAPD officer later found King Jay's car seat three blocks away from the donation shed, near the intersection of Guthrie Street and Southwest 41st Street.
Shortly after the staged kidnapping, Davila, 34, was charged with child endangerment. Several days later, Torres was arrested on an unrelated aggravated robbery charge.
On Thursday, San Antonio police added new charges for the trio.
Davila is now facing felony charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury - omission, tampering with evidence, felony possession of a firearm and possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance. He could be charged with capital murder pending an autopsy, which will be conducted Friday.
Sampayo and Torres are both facing a charge of tampering with evidence, which is a third-degree felony.
"We're now working a death investigation, (and we) won't be finished until we find out how exactly how he died," McManus said.