Toddler Found Dead Hours After Going Missing

Police investigating the tragic death of a Missouri toddler are trying to piece together what happened in the hours before his body was found in a van around a mile from his home in Iron County on Wednesday morning. Police say 3-year-old Titus Greyson Tackett's grandparents were babysitting when his parents returned home at around 1am Wednesday to discover them sleeping, the front door open, and the boy gone, reports NBC News. After an overnight search involving local police, the Missouri Highway Patrol, the FBI, and volunteers, Titus' body was found in the van at 11am, wrapped in a blanket, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Somebody who spotted the body flagged down a searcher, police say.

Family members told police that they last saw Titus at around midnight—and he was wearing only a diaper. The temperature in the area was around 14 degrees overnight, according to the National Weather Service. Authorities say an autopsy will be carried out and it still isn't clear if foul play was involved in the boy's death, KTVI reports. "At this point, it's too early to determine exactly how he got out of the house and how he ended up where he was," Iron County Sheriff Roger Medley tells the Daily Journal, adding that there does not appear to be any connection between the van's owners and the boy's family. (More Missouri stories.)