OMI confirms body is missing Ga. boy
Taos district attorney waiting on cause of death to file charges
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator on Thursday confirmed that the body of a child found at a makeshift compound north of Taos is that of Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, a 3-year-old Georgia boy reported missing late last year.
Police think the child, who had suffered from disabilities since birth, was abducted by his father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and ultimately brought to the remote site near the Colorado border.
The father faces 11 charges of child abuse related to other children found living at the compound with members of an extended family, as well as one count of custodial interference.
Donald Gallegos, the district attorney in Taos who is overseeing the prosecution of Wahhaj and four other adults jailed on child abuse charges, said Thursday’s identification of the young boy is not enough to warrant additional charges in the case.
“I need to know more information. I need to know the cause and the manner of death,” Gallegos said. “… We need something definite before we can go any further.”
Medical investigators who examined the decomposed remains found in a tunnel at the compound have not yet determined the cause or manner of death, a news release said.
Police found the body after they raided the compound near Amalia about two weeks ago following a complaint that people inside the makeshift dwelling were starving, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said.
During the raid, Abdul-Ghani’s father was arrested on a Georgia warrant accusing him of kidnapping. Four other adults later were arrested on child abuse charges, and 11 children were taken into state custody. At the time, AbdulGhani remained missing.
During their investigation, police found Abdul-Ghani’s remains, wrapped in plastic and cloth, on what would have been his fourth birthday.
Relatives have told news outlets that the body belonged to the boy, but the Office of the Medical Investigator did not confirm the identity until Thursday afternoon.
In a previous announcement, Kurt Nolte, chief medical investigator, said that the body had decomposed to the point that identifying the remains required cross-referencing images, fingerprints, DNA and other factors.
State District Judge Sarah Backus of Taos on Monday approved the pretrial release of the adults charged in the Amalia compound case, saying that state prosecutors did not provide sufficient evidence in court to show the defendants were a flight risk or a threat to the community.
Two defendants — Wahhaj, 40, and his second wife, Jany Leveille, 35 — are also being detained over other matters. While Wahhaj is being held on the warrant from Georgia, Leveille, who is from Haiti, is subject to an immigration hold by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency said in a statement, because she has been in the country unlawfully since her visa expired 20 years ago.
A relative of Leveille told the Associated Press that the group had gone to the high desert because they no longer wanted to live as American Muslims in a society mostly populated by nonMuslims.
A woman who answered the phone at the Taos County jail said all five defendants remained incarcerated as of Thursday afternoon. A lawyer for one of the three adults eligible for release told a reporter Wednesday that her client’s release had been delayed over safety concerns.
Safety has been a concern for the judge in the case as well. Backus has been the target of hundreds of phone calls and other messages since her decision to allow bail for the defendants, some so threatening that the courthouse was temporarily evacuated Tuesday. Barry Massey, spokesman for the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said the courts in Taos were open for business as usual Wednesday and Thursday and expected to be open Friday as well.
The district attorney confirmed Thursday that he plans to appeal Backus’ refusal to deny bail. He has 10 days from the date of the ruling to file the appeal, he said, and hopes to have the paperwork filed by the end of the week.