For 55 days, people didn’t believe what Noah Bush’s family had known for weeks. The police had first said that his death was an accident, but it was not.
The 8-year-old boy from Georgia who drowned in a building pit in May now has a family lawyer who wants more arrests and a fuller investigation into the child’s death, which has been ruled a murder.
Three boys, ten and eleven years old, have been charged with Noah’s murder. But Francys Johnson, an attorney for the family, said that the Bushes want to arrest any adults who may have helped cover up what the boys did. He also said that the Bushes were angry that the sheriff’s department said for weeks that Noah’s death was an accident.
The body of Noah was found in a borrow pit full of water near his home in Jesup, Georgia, on May 16, one day after he was reported missing. This was confirmed by Johnson and the police. In a borrow hole, dirt or soil has been dug out so that it can be used somewhere else.
He was last seen hanging out with an 11-year-old he met that day and a 10-year-old he had known for a few months and thought of as a friend.
“At some point, they put pressure on Noah to go down to the borrow pit,” Johnson said, adding that he had met with the prosecutor and seen the proof.
“It’s a deep, canyon-like spot.” And in the low spots, swimming-pool-sized pools of water fill up, he said, adding that the area is in “total disrepair” with broken fences and gates that let people in.
Johnson said that the boys got into a fight, and he was “pushed into the water by the older juvenile.”
At the time, the sheriff’s office said that his death was an accident and that no one was guilty. Family members, according to NBC station First Coast News, said that the finding was wrong because Noah was afraid of water and would not have gone near it. In the days after Noah’s death, hundreds of people spoke out against the department’s results.
Johnson said of Noah’s mother, “She always thought there was more to this.” “I can’t think of anyone who has felt worse about being wrong than that person.” Almost two months after the boy was found dead, the sheriff’s office changed its mind. In a news release, they said that Noah’s death had been ruled a murder because one of the other boys “pushed him into the deep portion of the borrow pit they were wading in.” When asked for a comment about Noah’s autopsy, the Wayne County Coroner’s Office did not reply right away.
When asked for a comment on Johnson’s claims, the sheriff’s office did not reply right away.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that the two boys were taken on July 10 in connection with Noah’s death by drowning. The 11-year-old is charged with second-degree murder, simple violence, hiding the death of another person, and criminal trespass. The 10-year-old is also charged with hiding the death of another person and criminal trespass. Because the boys are so young, they have not been named in public.
The mother of one of the boys, Natalie Hardison, was also arrested on July 10 on a felony charge of making fake statements. She was also charged with probation violation and truancy, both smaller crimes. Police chief deputy Mike Hargrove of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said Hardison “lied” about where she was during the probe. The sheriff’s office website says that Hardison has been in jail since she was arrested. In court records, there is no lawyer named for her.
The boys were caught 55 days after Noah’s body was found.
“The sheriff had these boys’ statements from less than 48 hours after Noah drowned.” “It’s just really hard to let this mother think for that long that her daughter drowned by accident and not tell anyone,” Johnson said.
He told NBC News that Noah “was the real center of his family’s joy” and that he was “full of life.” He said that Noah’s mother, Demetrice Bush, is very sad about his death and is looking for solutions.
Johnson said the area was a “tight-knit” but poor neighborhood of trailer homes.
“Of course, Noah’s family wasn’t rich, but neither are the people who are accused of killing him,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Noahs’ mother thinks the sheriff’s office almost missed the fact that her son had been killed and criticized how the case was handled.
“She thinks that her child didn’t matter to them in the end,” he said.
Noah was black. Johnson said that the two boys who were caught were white.
NBC News asked the sheriff’s office about the family’s claims, but they didn’t answer.
“There may be others who are hidden what the 10 and 11-year-olds did, and everyone who was a part of that, who was a party to those crimes, should be held accountable,” Johnson said.
But he did say that the family is thankful that the district attorney decided that the two boys and one of their moms should be charged. The district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit said that they don’t speak on cases that are still being investigated.
Hargrove said that the probe is still going on.
He said, “It’s still open, and we’re still looking into it.”