Mother, grandfather of 1-year-old boy presumed dead indicted by grand jury in Fayette County

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) - The mother and grandfather of a missing one-year-old boy presumed dead have been indicted by a grand jury in Fayette County, and court records outline abuse that prosecutors allege the pair inflicted on the child.

Kahleb Collins would have turned 2-years-old on April 13, but he has not been seen since last September, and his disappearance wasn’t investigated until December after his family was involved in a deadly crash.

His mother, Wendy Bailey, was the only survivor of that crash and was arrested after she was released from the hospital. She was initially charged with domestic violence, corpse abuse, criminally negligent homicide, and aggravated child abuse.

The homicide charge is related to her daughter, Ryleigh, who was killed when investigators say her father, Steven Collins, crashed into a tree at 92 mph. The toddler was not restrained in a car seat. Collins also died in the crash.

The grand jury indicted Bailey on four counts of domestic violence in the first degree, aggravated child abuse, and abuse of a corpse related to her son.

The indictment alleges the abuse happened more than twice, and included binding the toddler so he was “suspended from a ceiling” and restrained to a chair.

Her father, John Elton Bailey, was indicted on aggravated child abuse, four counts of domestic violence in the first degree, abuse of a corpse, and hindering prosecution in the first degree.

He was originally arrested in December and charged with failure to report a missing child.

Investigators with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and Alabama Law Enforcement Agency have searched the Bailey’s property, and other locations several times, but Kahleb’s remains have yet to be found.

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