The Corona father charged in 8-year-old Noah McIntosh’s killing bought gloves, bolt cutters, acid and a drain opener, according to court documents submitted Thursday to the judge in the case and obtained by KTLA Friday.
Bryce McIntosh, 32, who has been charged with first-degree murder with a special circumstance of torture, purchased two pairs of long cuffed gloves, 24-inch bolt cutters, four gallons of muriatic acid, and a bottle of drain opener from a Home Depot store on March 4, the day the child’s mother said she last saw him, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant from Corona Police Detective Mario Hernandez.
Noah’s body has not been located, but Corona Police Department Chief George Johnstone said traces of evidence have been found that “leave no doubt that Noah is the victim of a homicide.”
Authorities believe the child was killed some time between March 3 and 4 in the county of Riverside, according to criminal complaint documents.
After extracting data from the father’s cell phone, authorities traced one of his previous locations to the unincorporated area of Aguanga and found purple latex gloves, a plastic bag with residue consistent with blood, parts to a Ninja blender, empty bottles of drain cleaner, empty cans of oven cleaner, blankets and towels, according to the document.
On March 12 at around 7 p.m., the child’s mother, Jillian Godfrey, 36, had Corona Police conduct a welfare check on Noah and said she last saw him on March 4 after she dropped him off at his father’s house.
The father had told Godfrey that Noah had been missing since March 6, and when she asked if he had reported him missing, he told her he had “everything under control,” but police hadn’t received any missing person reports from him, authorities said.
When police arrived at his home on 4637 Temescal Valley Road, he refused to answer the door and didn’t pick up calls from police, according to the court document.
A day later, investigators obtained a warrant, searched the father’s home and vehicle, and seized his electronic devices.
Police looked through the father’s online search history and found he searched for “the normal heart rate for 8 year old,” “exactly how sodium hydroxide works” and “Can you buy sulfuric acid,” the detective wrote in the declaration.
In an interview with police, the suspect’s 10-year-old daughter told investigators she knew Noah was missing “because her daddy told her” and described physical abuse to Noah that involved the child being handcuffed in a bathtub with cold water and described “helping her daddy at times by holding Noah’s legs down,” the report said.
Police found handcuffs at the father’s home during a search for evidence, the report said.
The detective said the mother changed her story later on in an interview, saying she last saw Noah on March 2, and not March 4.
Godfrey said she saw McIntosh take Noah into a bathroom on March 2, and heard the child ask the father why he was hurting him, the detective wrote. She said that when she left McIntosh’s home that day, the child was still in the bathroom, the report said.
Two days later on March 4, McIntosh was in the area of Squaw Mountain Road and Temescal Valley Road, his cell phone data revealed.
Police searched the area and found purple latex gloves that matched gloves found in McIntosh’s vehicle.
Authorities also searched the mother’s phone and found notes where Godfrey was documenting the father’s abuse, according to detectives.
Godfrey is in custody while police investigate her involvement in the killing, the report said.
On March 19, police were seen at McIntoch’s home. Officials told KTLA at the time that a plumber was assisting with the investigation.
Plumbing fixtures were removed and collected from the bath tubs, bathroom sinks and the kitchen sink, according to the court document.
The plumber told detectives that the fixtures for the bath tub were “cleaner than normal” considering the age of the building, Hernandez wrote.
The case is still under investigation.
