Man Suspected of Murdering Toddler Found Dead After Manhunt

An Oklahoma man suspected of murdering a two-year-old was found dead in a wildlife refuge this weekend after a three-day manhunt.

Authorities discovered the body of Christopher James Trent, 38, on Saturday in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge after spending nearly three days of trying to track him down, the Norman Police Department said in a statement on Facebook.

Police have not released details on how Trent died.

Officers began their search for Trent after police conducted an early Wednesday welfare check on a two-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, the police department announced Thursday.

Police discovered that the boy was unresponsive and rushed him to a local hospital, where medical staff determined there was evidence of child abuse and physical trauma. Doctors at the hospital later pronounced the boy dead.

A police investigation discovered that the boy had been under the care of his mother’s live-in boyfriend named Trent.

Trent was not home when officers conducted their welfare check, police said.

Police filed a warrant for Trent’s arrest on a first-degree murder charge Thursday after launching a manhunt in the air and on the ground in the hopes of finding him.

Authorities discovered his car in Medicine Park at the refuge while Trent remained at large. By the time officials found Trent’s remains, agents from 13 different local and federal law enforcement agencies participated in the search. The agencies ranged from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the FBI.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a news release that the manhunt forced parts of the wildlife refuge to be closed off to visitors. It was unclear when the refuge said it would reopen.