Body found in search for missing boy

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    By Krystal Baker and Rob Meier

    A lost volunteer found the body of a 2-year-old Summit County boy who has been lost since Friday. While searching for the boy in Coalville, Summit County the volunteer became lost in the snow covered mountains where the boy was last seen.

    As he searched for a route out of the woods he happened across the snow covered body.

    Gage Wayment’s father had left him locked in a vehicle to scout a hunt in the mountains for nearly an hour. Wayment was wearing only pajamas when he disappeared, and authorities suspected he had not survived this weekend’s near-freezing temperatures.

    Officials had called off the search because of bad weather, but friends and family of Wayment continued the search.

    Summit County Sheriff Robert Berry and investigation teams interviewed a father and son hunting team who saw Gage Wayment less than an hour before his father noticed the boy was missing.

    The father and son, whose names were not released, said they saw Gage in his pajamas awake inside of the truck without his father, Berry said.

    Approximately 40 minutes later, Paul Wayment, Gage’s father, approached the father and son and asked for help in locating the missing child, Berry said.

    The hunters and the investigators pieced together a timetable of events.

    Wayment left his son asleep in the pick-up truck for an hour while he hunted. When he returned his son was missing, Berry said.

    Wayment’s ex-wife, Brenda Harrison, accuses Wayment of kidnapping their child, Berry said.

    Valeria Burke, spokeswoman of the Wayment family, said that story is wrong. There is no way Wayment could have taken Gage, she said.

    “The idea of Paul taking Gage to hide him somewhere is outrageous,” Burke said.

    Burke went on the say that the family has been doing everything possible to find the boy — passing out flyers, putting his pictures on Web pages and contacting the media.

    “Nothing really makes sense, the fact that somebody would want to kidnap Gage just doesn’t make sense to me,” Burke said.

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