https://www.wthr.com/article/news/in...1-0894a3b5281e
Investigators say the disappearance of a 9-year-old boy in Muncie is one of the most disturbing cases they’ve ever seen.
Hayden has been missing for more than five years.
His disappearance came to light only recently, and the mysterious case — now being reported for the first time by 13 Investigates — has shocked and baffled both police and the boy’s own family.
As family members and law enforcement desperately search for answers, they acknowledge a growing fear that the missing boy might no longer be alive.
The last time Hayden was seen
Hayden’s grandfather and three of his aunts met with 13 Investigates to talk about Hayden and to explain how they determined he was missing.
The last time they saw Hayden was inside his great-grandmother’s Muncie home in late 2019.
“It was Christmas Eve 2019 at our family gathering,” his grandfather explained. “I didn’t notice anything wrong.”
When Hayden left his great-grandmother’s house that Christmas Eve in 2019, he was 4 1/2 years old and living in Muncie with his father, Dustin Manis. Family members describe Dustin as kind and gentle with kids.
“He was so sweet and good with children,” Shellie said about her nephew. “Never in a million years would you think he’d ever put a hand on any child, let alone his own son.”
But Dustin also had a criminal history involving drugs and alcohol, and his drug use impacted his parenting.
In fact, Hayden’s father and mother both lost custody of their baby son in 2016 after drug tests showed they had been using cocaine. That same year, police also found Hayden and his father in a motel room littered with heroin.Family text messages reviewed by 13 Investigates show Dustin claimed he moved out of town in August 2021, telling his aunt Barb he was “Doing really good” and that he would try to attend the next family Christmas gathering.
He did not. Dustin eventually stopped responding to texts, worrying his aunts.
“I don’t care when u get this message just let me know ur ok and if we can meet so I can see u,” Barb texted her nephew in May 2023.
In his final text message to his aunt, Dustin wrote, “Hey aunt barb I promise on everything all is well I promise u [I’ve] just been having a lot going on … I’m doing good and I’m doing right and I’m working on making the family I’ve always wanted.” [sic]
But that changed a few months ago, when Hayden’s two great-grandmothers had a chance encounter at a Muncie grocery store and began discussing the boy. One of the great-grandmothers said Dustin had told her several years ago that he had again lost custody of Hayden to DCS.
“She went straight home and called [Gary] and said, “Something is off, something’s not right,” Shellie explained.
“She sounded worried, like something didn’t sound right, so I went to CPS the next day,” Gary told 13News.
Another family member called police and asked them to check on Hayden.
Police found Dustin. They did not find his son.
And the story Dustin Manis told investigators — that CPS came to his house in 2022, took custody of Hayden and returned him to his mother — did not add up.In November, after sheriff’s investigators questioned Dustin about his son’s disappearance, Muncie Police arrested Hayden’s father on more drug charges. During a traffic stop, officers found Dustin with both heroin and meth.
He spent a few weeks in the Delaware County Jail before one of his grandmothers posted bond and he was released from jail. Four days later, on December 15, Dustin Manis died from a drug overdose.
For investigators, it means the man at the center of their investigation into Hayden’s disappearance is now gone.
“Just because Dustin Manis is dead does not mean the investigation is dead. We’re still going forward,” said the prosecutor. He believes other people have crucial information and know what happened to Hayden.
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Originally Posted by marakisses
