SAN ANTONIO - It's been a year since a New Braunfels toddler disappeared and now a private investigator hired by the family is talking about what he thinks could have happened to the boy.
18-month-old Joshua Davis Jr. was reported missing at about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 4, 2011. A few weeks later, private investigator Charlie Parker says he was hired by the child's grandmother. Parker says he worked "day and night" on the case for about three months before he ran out of money.
Parker believes the boy could have gotten out the back door of the home that night.
"That's an average door, that's 36 inches high," Parker said about the door knob. "Baby Josh could not only walk but he could run."
Parker showed News 4 WOAI the route he thinks Josh could have taken, out the back door, down the steps and to the front yard of the house.
"If he got out into the street, he could have been run over. It was late at night. Drunks were going home. Someone could have hit him, picked him up, put him in the car, and tried to make it to the emergency room but panicked and dumped him," Parker said.
Police searches turned up no sign of Joshua and despite Parker's interviews and surveillance work, he says he found no evidence to support or contradict his theory.
"Remember, there's no blood in the house. There's no forensics or body fluid. There's nothing of any kind of evidence that shows a baby could have been killed in the house," he said. "I know that from sources I have."
Police believe there "probably" was an accident inside the home.
"If there was an accident in there, the only way I see that is if the baby got ahold of some pills or drugs. Then there wouldn't be blood or body fluids," Parker said.
New Braunfels Police say they have confirmed with the family the child was not kidnapped and that the child did not get out of the home.
