TAOS, N.M. — A severely disabled Georgia boy who authorities say was kidnapped by his father and marked for an exorcism was found buried at the ramshackle compound in the New Mexico desert that has been the focus of investigators for the past week, the toddler’s grandfather said Thursday. New Mexico authorities, however, said they had yet to identify the remains, discovered Monday.

The boy, Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, would have turned 4 Monday. Prosecutors said he was snatched from his mother in December. The search for him led authorities to New Mexico, where 11 children and a youngster’s remains were found at a filthy compound.

The boy’s grandfather, Siraj Wahhaj, a Muslim cleric who leads a well-known New York City mosque, said he did not know the cause of the boy’s death.

A Georgia arrest warrant accused the boy’s father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the imam’s son, of kidnapping the child.

associated press