Authorities found the body of 8-month-old King Jay Davila wrapped in a blanket and buried in a backpack on San Antonio's Northeast Side, according to court records. The affidavit says Christopher Davila, the boy's father, led police to the burial site, located at a dead end near Castle Lance and Castle Prince, less than a mile from Davila's home. He is now charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, a 1st-degree felony, along with felon in possession of a firearm, drug possession and tampering with evidence. His bail has been set at $1.25 million. The discovery caps a week-long search for the missing child that captivated the city. It began with Davila calling police to claim the baby was inside a car that had been stolen from a San Antonio gas station -- a claim police said they almost immediately doubted. Finding King Jay, however, is not the end of this investigation, McManus said. "This is not the finish line, in fact, the hard part of the investigation is just beginning," he said. "The investigation won't be finished until we can answer how exactly King Jay died, who knew it, and when they knew it." FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox According to an arrest affidavit, Davila, 34, told police he had been playing video games on Jan. 3 while King Jay sat in a car seat on a bed in his room. At some point, the car seat fell over, sending King Jay to the floor. Davila indicated the boy might have hit his head on a dresser on the way down. Rather than seek medical attention for the boy, Davila apparently waited for several hours, then checked on King Jay and discovered he was dead, according to the affidavit. "He said King Jay's death was an accident," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said at a Friday morning press conference. "He panicked and did not call 911." ON EXPRESS-NEWS.COM: Asked where missing San Antonio child is, grandfather says: 'Only God knows.' Instead, he enlisted the help of his mother, Beatrice Sampayo, and his cousin, Angie Torres, to cover up King Jay's death by faking the kidnapping, officials said. McManus said he and investigations noticed inconsistencies almost right away and continued to pull at those threads until the story came apart. "When (Davila's) story started to unravel...it's when he broke down," McManus said. "His story weakened and he figured he wasn't going to get away with it." Torres and Sampayo are facing charges of tampering with evidence, but investigators have requested arrest warrants for the two women on charges of injury to a child. An autopsy on King Jay will likely be conducted today. McManus and newly installed DA Joe Gonzales said they will continue the investigation and additional arrests and charges are possible. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns<doc-sep>Now that the body of a missing 8-month-old infant has been found, investigators are increasing the pressure on the boy’s family to discover how exactly he died and who knew about it. Christopher Davila, 34, changed his story after first claiming that his son, King Jay Davila, had been kidnapped, a plot that police discredited quickly. Now, he says King Jay died after the car seat holding the boy fell off a bed and hit the floor. On Thursday, he led police to the place where he buried the body. Officials hinted Friday that they do not believe Davila’s latest account either. “He said King Jay's death was an accident,” Police Chief William McManus said Friday. “He panicked and did not call 911.” Davila, who has a lengthy criminal record and was once in prison, was charged Friday with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, a first-degree felony, along with felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. He already faced two other charges in connection with King Jay’s disappearance, including child endangerment and tampering with evidence. He’s being held in the Bexar County jail on a $1.25 million bond. Davila’s mother, Beatrice Sampayo, 64, and his cousin, Angie Torres, 45, also face charges of tampering with evidence for their roles in trying to cover up the death, police said. Investigators have requested arrest warrants for the two women on charges of injury to a child. On ExpressNews.com: Police believe missing 8-month-old boy is dead The charges Friday came after Davila led police to an empty field on San Antonio’s Northeast Side and pointed out the area where he had buried King Jay, after he had placed the body in a backpack. It was less than a mile from the home Davila shares with King Jay’s mother, Jasmine Gonzales. Police said Friday that Gonzales, who is pregnant with Davila’s seventh child, is still being investigated. Michael Fisher Dozens gathered near the site Friday to leave flowers and balloons and hold hands to pray. McManus said the death gripped the city due, in part, to the fact that it involved a young child. “It shocks the conscience to think that someone could do this to an 8-month-old, let alone his own child,” McManus said. The results of an autopsy of King Jay, which was expected Friday, will be significant in determining what happened to the boy. McManus and recently elected Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, flanked by other law enforcement officials and an FBI agent, said the investigation is ongoing and additional arrests and charges are possible. Both applauded investigators who worked tirelessly to unravel the kidnapping plot and find King Jay. Davila, who stands 5-foot-3 and wears the tattoos of a gang member, comes from a large, close-knit family, with several generations living together. Sampayo, who is only 4-foot-11, the mother of four children, said she is dying of cancer. In an interview with the Express-News before her arrest, Sampayo said her son was innocent and was being targeted by police for his past gang affiliation. “He’s my son,” she said. “To kill someone? I don’t know. I don’t know.” ‘An accident’ Davila told police that on Jan. 3 he was playing video games in his room while Jasmine Gonzales was at work. King Jay was in his baby car seat, which was placed on top of a bed. When he sat down on the bed, Davila said, the car seat fell off. Davila told police King Jay “hit the floor with his face and may have struck the front of the dresser on the way down.” He saw a large bump over the boy’s eye. Instead of immediately requesting medical assistance, Davila told police he tried to keep the boy from falling asleep. He checked on the child a few hours later and discovered King Jay had died. In an arrest affidavit, this is what police say happened: At some point that night, Davila called his mother, Beatrice Sampayo, and told her what had happened. A witness overheard the conversation and later told police Davila had talked about “the baby falling and being injured.” A different witness who was at Davila’s home said he heard King Jay crying the night of Jan. 3. The next morning, between 9 a.m. and noon, he saw Davila leave the home with King Jay in the car seat. Davila went to his parents’ house on the West Side. When he arrived, the witness who had overheard the phone conversation between Davila and Sampayo greeted him and asked to see King Jay. “ ‘Get the (expletive) back in the house,’” the witness recalled Davila saying. Around the same time, Torres, Davila’s cousin, looked into the car with a “shocked look on her face.” The witness saw Davila and Sampayo “visibly upset and crying” in the driveway. The two hugged, “which was unusual because they do not normally hug,” he said. Torres, Sampayo and Davila then conspired to cover up the boy’s death. On ExpressNews.com: Asked where missing child is, grandfather says: ‘Only God knows’ About 7 p.m., Davila drove his parents’ 2016 white Dodge Dart to the Friend's Food Mart on Enrique M. Barrera Parkway to buy water and lottery tickets. Before he went inside, he checked twice to make sure the driver door to the car was unlocked. Moments after he went into the store, Sampayo pulled up to the gas station with Torres. Torres got out of the car. A survelliance video shows she walked directly to Davila’s vehicle without hesitation, opened the driver’s door, entered the vehicle and drove away. When Davila came outside, he said he saw the car was missing, as was his son. He called police to report it. Police rushed to the scene and established a quadrant around the area, searching for the car. They found the Dart a short time later parked near Rodriguez Park, but King Jay was no where to be found. The car seat also was missing. Investigators questioned Davila and he told them King Jay had been staying with Sampayo since Dec. 31 and that he had picked the child up on Jan. 4 to take him home. But when detectives showed him the video from the gas station, Davila clammed up and “refused to cooperate further.” Police arrested him on a charge of endangering a child on Jan. 5. Meanwhile, Torres drove the Dart to Rodriguez Park, where Sampayo met her. Torres took the car seat with her and got into Sampayo’s car. Torres later told investigators that she and Sampayo drove to the 700 block of South Acme Street, where Sampayo dumped the car seat at a donation shed. They drove off, only to return a minute later to retrieve the car seat and leave it three blocks away at Guthrie and S.W. 41st Street. Officials say security camera video from the area confirmed Torres’ story. At a press conference Monday, McManus told reporters that King Jay’s “kidnapping” was a ruse to cover up foul play. The next morning, police arrested Torres on an unrelated robbery charge. On ExpressNews.com: Police: San Antonio woman who helped stage infant’s kidnapping robbed store two days later On Wednesday, Torres requested an interview with police from her jail cell and allegedly confessed to the staged kidnapping. Her confession led to the arrest of Sampayo and rearrest of Davila, who had bailed out of jail the week prior. During interviews with police Thursday night, Davila confessed to police and agreed to show them where he had buried the boy’s body. “When his story started to unravel...it’s when he broke down,” McManus said. “His story weakened and he figured he wasn't going to get away with it.” That’s when he revealed the burial site. “After digging, investigators located a black backpack with what appeared to be an infant’s body wrapped in a blanket placed inside,” the affidavit states. Police then secured an arrest warrant for Davila on a charge of injury to a child by omission because he “intentionally and knowingly failed to seek medical attention for the serious injuries” King Jay suffered.<doc-sep>A missing 8-month-old boy in Texas is dead, officials said Friday. Christopher Davila told police last week that his child, King Jay Davila, was kidnapped from his car in San Antonio. But after sharing surveillance footage of the child's alleged kidnapping, police determined it was the baby's cousin in the video and the "staged" kidnapping was done "to cover up foul play," according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus. "We have statements from multiple witnesses that lead us to believe that King Jay is deceased," McManus said Thursday. "We charged [Davila and two other family members] with tampering with evidence because we believe that they participated in staging the kidnapping to hide King Jay's body so we couldn't find it to determine what happened to him." Davila led investigators to an open field in San Antonio, where King Jay's body was believed to be hidden in a backpack, police said. On Thursday, Davila, as well as King Jay's grandmother, Beatrice Sampayo, and another family member, Angie Torres, were charged with tampering with evidence in the case. The charge is a third-degree felony. ABC San Antonio affiliate KSAT reported Friday that Davila was playing video games while caring for King Jay, citing details in a new arrest affidavit. King Jay was placed in a car seat on the edge of the bed Christopher was sitting on when the car seat fell over. King Jay, who was not strapped in, ended up with a large bump over his eye, according to KSAT. Hours later, King Jay was dead, KSAT said. Torres, who police say was the one seen taking Davila's car from a convenience store in the surveillance footage, is also being held on an unrelated aggravated robbery charge, KSAT reported. She is being held on $50,000 bond, according to jail records. Police said the child's mother, Jasmine Gonzales, continues to be under investigation in the case. "Every parent out there, everyone understands, 'How can someone do that to a child?'" McManus told reporters Thursday. "This kidnapping was used as a ruse to cover up what we believe early on was foul play. What other purpose would you fake a kidnapping other than to hide something?" Davila, 34, has a long criminal record, which includes convictions for arson and assault causing bodily injury, The Associated Press reported. It was unclear if Davila, Sampayo and Torres had lawyers. ABC News' Marcus Moore, Emily Shapiro and Alexandra Svokos contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
The body of missing 8-month-old King Jay Davila was found buried in a backpack in San Antonio, Texas, a day after three of his relatives were charged with evidence tampering. Court documents revealed that the infant's father, 34-year-old Christopher Davila, led police to the burial site, located near Castle Lance and Castle Prince in San Antonio. Davila was charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, felon in possession of a firearm, drug possession and tampering with evidence. The boy's father, paternal grandmother, Beatrice Davila, and cousin, 45-year-old Angie Torres, were initially charged with evidence tampering, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters on Thursday. King Jay Davila went missing on January 4, when his father reported he had been kidnapped. Christopher Davila claimed to police that his vehicle had been taken from a gas station while his infant son was inside, Fox News reported. Davila was seen on surveillance video leaving his car running and the door open while he entered the gas station. Surveillance footage showed a woman entering the vehicle and driving off. Police said the kidnapping was staged as a cover up foul play. Authorities said Torres was the woman seen taking the vehicle in the surveillance video and that Davila's mother had dropped her off at the gas station. Torres allegedly told investigators that Beatrice Davila had told her that her son "had severely injured" his son. "As I mentioned previously this was a staged kidnapping meant to cover up foul play. We have statements from multiple witnesses that unfortunately lead us to believe King Jay is deceased," McManus said on Thursday. The police chief said the three relatives were charged with tampering with evident because authorities believed "they participated in staging the kidnapping to ride King Jay's body so we couldn't find it to determine what happened to him." On Friday, McManus said that finding the infant's body was not the end of the investigation. "This is not the finish line, in fact, the hard part of the investigation is just beginning," he said, according to My San Antonio. "The investigation won't be finished until we can answer how exactly King Jay died, who knew it, and when they knew it." Davila reportedly claimed to police that his son was sitting in a car seat on a bed in his room on January 3, while he played video games. The boy allegedly fell over and he may have hit hid head on a dresser as he fell, Davila claimed. The affidavit said Davila waited hours before finding his son dead. The baby's mother remained under investigation and there was a possibility others could be charged, the police chief said.