TRAGIC

Remains Found at NM Compound Identified as Missing 3-Year-Old

They belong to Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, authorities said Thursday.

Authorities identified the remains found at the squalid New Mexico compound as those of a missing 3-year-old boy from Georgia whose father is accused of abducting him last year, CNN reports. Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj’s remains were found at an outdoor compound near Taos, where police found 11 emaciated children dressed in rags, along with five adults who have since been arrested. New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator said that the state of Abdul-Ghani’s remains made it difficult for the office to positively identify him. “Our thoughts and prayers go to Wahhaj’s family,” spokesperson Alex Sanchez said in a statement. “We certainly understand the heartbreak this news will cause and want to stress our commitment to investigating this death to serve the living.” Abdul-Ghani’s father, Siraj Wahhaj, is accused of kidnapping the boy and taking him to live on the compound with the other children. Prosecutors say Abdul-Ghani died in a ritual to cast out demonic spirits from his body, and that the group believed that he would re-emerge as Jesus to tell them which institutions in society were “corrupt and needed to be done away with.” Abdul-Ghani reportedly suffered from “retardation, epilepsy or cerebral palsy.” Siraj Wahhaj and the four other arrested adults are facing 11 counts of child abuse. The 11 children, who are between the ages of 1 and 15, are in state custody.