Five-year-old Joseph Clyde Daniels III, described as autistic and non-verbal, was reported missing from a home on Garners Creek Road in Dickson, Tennessee after a 911 call in the early morning hours of April 4, 2018. His parents, Joseph Daniels Sr. and Krystal, told dispatchers they found him gone when they went to wake him for school and suggested he might have unlocked the door and wandered off.

Within days the investigation shifted from a missing persons search to a criminal inquiry. Joseph Daniels Sr. was charged with criminal homicide on April 7, 2018, and later convicted by a jury in June 2021 of second-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated child abuse, evidence tampering, and initiating a false report; he received a life sentence. Krystal Daniels was arrested on related charges and in March 2022 entered a no-contest plea to aggravated child abuse, conspiracy, making a false report, and tampering with evidence; she was sentenced to 15 years. Joseph Sr. reportedly confessed at one point to beating his son to death and gave varying accounts of the body’s disposal; Krystal said she heard a scream, then silence, and saw Joseph standing over their son. Despite extensive searches, Joe’s remains have never been found.

Did anyone in Dickson remember unusual activity near Garners Creek Road around April 4, 2018, or have information about the child’s last known movements?