4-Year-Old Boy Found Dead in Septic Tank

Post Gazette- As an autopsy is conducted today on the body of a 4-year-old Beaver County boy, investigators will continue to seek his killer and a prayer vigil will try to salve the loss of the energetic, happy toddler who never let a congenital heart defect slow him down.

The mystery of Wyatt Smitsky's disappearance Friday night was solved about 12:45 p.m. yesterday when searchers found his body face down in the bottom of an underground septic tank only feet from his home. Still to be determined is how the child died.

The search for Wyatt, of Greene, began around 7:30 p.m. after his family reported him missing from their home on Georgetown Road, near Hookstown. State police said at the time they believed he had wandered away. An extensive search continued until 4 a.m. yesterday and resumed about 11 a.m.

But long before then, police -- who described the case as a homicide investigation -- said they had doubts about what they had been told by family members.

At a news conference late in the afternoon, Lt. Thomas Dubovi said investigators began to suspect Friday night that they weren't dealing with a child who was lost but one who had been harmed.

"There was information that wasn't matching ... there was suspicion something was wrong here."
And when Wyatt was found, their skepticism was validated.

"It was a missing person investigation originally, but due to where the child was found, it [became] a homicide investigation," Lt. Dubovi said. "We believe he could not have gone into that septic tank without being put there. He could not move the heavy lid of that septic tank by himself."

Additionally, he said, the lid of the tank had been moved back in place, closing the opening.

Trooper Rob Lagoon said investigators believe Wyatt's body had been in the tank since Friday evening or even earlier. He would not say how investigators believe the boy died, or if wounds were apparent on his body.

The septic tank lies along a fence line separating the Smitsky home from a neighbor's property. It is deep enough for an adult male to enter it, Lt. Dubovi said.

Standing outside the Beaver County State Police station last night, he said investigators were interviewing a "person of interest" inside but wouldn't identify that person.

For hours, investigators had been questioning Wyatt's father, John Smitsky, 29. After about five hours, Mr. Smitsky emerged from the station, accompanied by his attorney, Joseph Horowitz. Mr. Smitsky did not comment to reporters but Mr. Horowitz said he does not expect Mr. Smitsky to be arrested.

Around the same time, Wyatt's relatives were clustered on a concrete patio behind a neighboring house on Georgetown Road.

As Wyatt's older sister Tally, 6, played with other children in the grassy back yard, relatives watched a news report on Wyatt's death on KDKA-TV. Many wept openly when his picture was flashed on the screen.

When they heard Mr. Smitsky described as a possible suspect, many groaned or shouted in disbelief.

"Nobody killed him," said an aunt, Shoni George. "John would never have done such a thing. That was his baby. That was his boy."

Mr. Horowitz said Mr. Smitsky is "saddened" by his son's death. He added he did not know much about Wyatt's disappearance or what occurred while his client was being questioned. He said Mr. Smitsky told him his son had been missing and he called police.

Earlier in the day, troopers had questioned Wyatt's mother, Terri, 28. But she, too, left the police station three hours before her husband departed. The couple also has another child, Paige, 3.

The search for Wyatt yesterday involved as many as 500 people-- police, FBI agents, firefighters and civilians -- using dogs, ATVs and an state police helicopter with infrared heat-seeking equipment. FBI protocol calls for the agency to assist with searches involving missing children under 12 years of age.

Kayda Smitsky of Weirton, W.Va., Wyatt's paternal grandmother, was part of a group of relatives who were about to start searching for him yesterday when the search abruptly ended.

Shortly before that happened, she turned and said one of the rescue leaders had told her: "They're telling me if he's dead and you find him, don't touch him.. But how's a grandma supposed to not hug her baby?"

Minutes later, she was told Wyatt was dead and was led weeping to the state police control center vehicle.

Earlier, she said she was told Wyatt was last seen playing with his sisters outside their home. Tally said she and Wyatt went into the woods, and when their mother called them for dinner at 6:30 p.m. she went home but Wyatt didn't.

John Smitsky Sr., the boys' grandfather, said Wyatt was almost always the last one to come home when he was called, so it made sense that he did not show up as soon as his sister did Friday evening. Kayda Smitsky said she was told the children's father had been at a flea market when Wyatt disappeared.

The elder Mr. Smitsky did not want to talk about the police investigation, but he did thank volunteers from the Hookstown area and beyond who showed up to help with the search for his grandson.

Before they discovered the body, authorities had been especially concerned because Wyatt had a congenital heart defect that required medication. He was born with insufficient arteries to the heart, which required him to undergo three open-heart surgeries -- the most recent when he was 2, said Ms. Smitsky.

Despite all that, "You wouldn't have known there was anything wrong with him," his grandfather said.

Relatives described him as "an Energizer bunny." His grandmother said that he loved the movie "Cars," always wore his Spiderman flip-flops, had a voracious appetite for doughnuts, and loved to go into the woods with one of his uncles during hunting season.

Kristy Darnley of Hookstown, Wyatt's and Tally's Sunday School teacher, described him as happy whether he was working alone or with other children.

"He would never give me a hard time," she said, "but he always had such a beautiful orneriness in his eyes."

Ms. Darnley said she was involved in the search Friday. Before she left, she joined both John and Terri Smitsky and her church's pastor, the Rev. Wilmer Olszewski, in a prayer circle.

She said Mr. Smitsky was not crying at the time, but told the pastor afterward, "I've been meaning to call you, because I want to start living my life right."

John Smitsky works occasionally as a laborer on various construction jobs, his father said, and is a member of Local 833 of the Laborers' Union. Terri Smitsky worked for a time as a customer service representative, an aunt said, but had quit to stay home full-time after the birth of Paige.

After volunteer searchers regrouped at Hookstown Free Methodist Church yesterday, a search organizer, Gerald Torrence, told them, "First off, we have found the little boy. I want to thank every one of you for your assistance and how much we appreciate all your help."

He never mentioned that Wyatt Smitsky was dead, but it was clear that many in the crowd already knew.

Tonight, at the same church, they'll pray.