{"id":52384,"date":"2026-01-10T01:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T07:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=52384"},"modified":"2026-01-10T03:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:12:48","slug":"preliminary-autopsy-reveals-possible-cause-of-death-for-missing-4-year-old-alabama-boy-johnathan-boley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=52384","title":{"rendered":"Preliminary autopsy reveals possible cause of death for missing 4-year-old Alabama boy Johnathan Boley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Officials have reportedly identified a possible cause of death for a 4-year-old&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/southeast\/alabama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alabama boy<\/a>&nbsp;who was found dead days after he was reported missing on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A preliminary autopsy report indicates that Johnathan Boley&#8217;s death is consistent with hypothermia, Walker County Coroner Joey Vick said this week, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbrc.com\/2026\/01\/09\/preliminary-autopsy-results-show-probable-cause-4-year-old-johnathan-boleys-death\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fox affiliate WBRC<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wvtm13.com\/article\/alabama-missing-boy-johnathan-boley-autopsy-hypothermia\/69949953\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NBC affiliate WVTM<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Investigators noted<\/a>&nbsp;that the child had removed his shoes and said drowning was not suspected, WTVM reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A final autopsy report has not yet been released.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A preliminary autopsy report indicates that Johnathan Boley&#8217;s death is consistent with hypothermia, Walker County Coroner Joey Vick said this week.&nbsp;(FOX 13-WTVT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Boley\u2019s funeral is scheduled for Jan. 10, according to WBRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Hypothermia is a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">life-threatening condition<\/a>&nbsp;that occurs when the body is exposed to freezing temperatures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Johnathan Everett Boley was reported missing on Dec. 30 after he wandered away from a rural property along Highway 195 near Jasper, Alabama, while playing outside with his dog, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith said during a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Following a multi-day search involving hundreds of law enforcement officers, volunteers, K-9 teams, drones and aircraft, searchers found the child\u2019s body on Jan. 2 roughly two miles from the home, officials said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The dog was located alive nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The body of Johnathan Boley was found in a wooded area near his father\u2019s Alabama home on Jan. 2, 2025. The dog was located alive nearby.&nbsp;(FOX 13-WTVT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;This is not the outcome anyone hoped for,&#8221; Smith said at the time. &#8220;Our hearts go out to this family and everyone who worked tirelessly to bring this child home.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Johnathan Boley and his siblings&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/southeast\/florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">live with their mother in Florida<\/a>&nbsp;and were visiting their father for the holidays under a custody arrangement, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Boley&#8217;s father, Jameson Kyle Boley, 40, of Jasper, Alabama, has been charged with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">felony chemical endangerment of a child<\/a>&nbsp;and unlawful manufacture of a destructive device, according to Walker County District Court records obtained by Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Law enforcement officials have said that the destructive-device charge is not related to the death of his son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Jameson Boley, 40, is charged with unlawful manufacturing of a destructive device and two counts of chemical endangerment of a child.&nbsp;&nbsp;(Blount County Jail)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;At this time, there is no evidence indicating foul play in the child\u2019s death, and these charges should not be conflated with the search for Johnathan,&#8221; Smith said during a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The Walker County Coroner&#8217;s office and the Walker County Sheriff&#8217;s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital&#8217;s request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/preliminary-autopsy-reveals-possible-cause-death-missing-4-year-old-alabama-boy-johnathan-boley#&amp;_intcmp=fnhpbt4\">foxnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Officials have reportedly identified a possible cause of death for a 4-year-old&nbsp;Alabama boy&nbsp;who was found dead days after he was reported missing on New Year\u2019s Eve. A preliminary autopsy report indicates that Johnathan Boley&#8217;s death is consistent with hypothermia, Walker County Coroner Joey Vick said this week, according to&nbsp;Fox affiliate WBRC&nbsp;and&nbsp;NBC affiliate WVTM. Investigators noted&nbsp;that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":52385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1247,33230,1100],"class_list":["post-52384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-death","tag-preliminary","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52386,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52384\/revisions\/52386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}