Investigators searching for evidence in the weekslong disappearance of an 8-year-old boy in Corona returned to the child’s father’s home with a plumber on Tuesday.
Authorities did not say why they brought the plumber or what it was they were looking for in the home. But investigators did collect evidence from inside Bryce McIntosh’s residence Monday night, Corona police said.
Noah McIntosh, who lived with his dad at the Encanto Apartment Homes in the 4500 block of Temescal Canyon Road, was last seen about three weeks ago.
McIntosh was never reported missing in that time and his disappearance was only brought to the attention of authorities last week when police were called and asked to do a welfare check on the boy.
The boy’s mother, Jillian Godfrey, was the one who called police because McIntosh’s father, Bryce McIntosh, would not allow her to see him, according to her parents.
Authorities entered the home after getting a search warrant but were unable to locate Noah McIntosh.
Bryce McIntosh and Godfrey were both arrested on suspicion of child cruelty linked to an incident that occurred in February.
Authorities have not given any details about what happened in that incident.
Noah has an older sister who’s staying with other family members as the investigation continues, police said.
Cynthia Jefferson says she lives across the street from the McIntoshes along Temescal Canyon Road and used to see them in the morning on Noah’s way to school. Her grandson, Chase Clayton, would also sometimes play with the boy.
Clayton said he’d noticed at least one concerning interaction between Bryce and Noah.
“One time we were playing, and he hit him — the dad hit him,” Clayton said. “I guess he did something wrong and his dad hit him in the back of his head.”
Valerie Rosas said she works for the Corona-Norco Unified School District and doesn’t understand how the boy’s disappearance could slip through the cracks.
“When a kid is gone from school, after two or three days there’s usually a phone call home saying, ‘Where is your child?’ ” Rosas said. “And if there’s nothing done with that, there’s a follow-up. The district failed that boy, as far as I am concerned.”
KTLA’s Erika Martin contributed to this report.
