Lex Talamo

Shreveport Times

11:45 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3

Officials pulled the body of 7-year-old Daysean Combest out of a drainage ditch near Mansfield Road early Thursday morning. Coroner Todd Thoma confirmed the child’s identity and death.

Shreveport’s mayor, chief administrative officer, fire chief, police chief and ministers notified the family on Thursday morning.

Fire Chief Scott Wolverton said that around 8:15 a.m. Thursday morning, crews from Alpha Railroad & Piling flagged down Shreveport Fire Department Engine No. 12 to report they observed “what appeared to be the body of a small child in a large, deep pool of water” near the 7200 block of Mansfield Road.

The original 911 call, reporting Daysean’s disappearance near a drainage ditch on Orla Avenue, happened at 2:44 p.m. on Aug. 1.

“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of this child,” Wolverton said.

Mayor Ollie Tyler, who spent the morning with the family, said Daysean’s mother, Mary Edmond, is going through “unbearable grief” but wanted everyone to know how “truly grateful” she was for the community’s support.

“I’m a mother with a son, and I can’t imagine the grief of this mother,” Tyler said. “I ask that you continue praying for this mother and this family.”

Wolverton, Tyler and Shreveport Police Chief Alan Crump thanked all the officers and city workers involved in the search - more than 78 individuals from the fire, police, streets and drainage and water and sewer departments, the city engineer’s office, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s department of homeland security, the state’s wildlife and fisheries and also live air rescue.

More than 50 community members attended a prayer vigil Wednesday evening near the old Ingleside Church in the Ingleside neighborhood. Others reached out to share condolences on social media.

“My heart goes out to the loved ones of this precious little boy,” said local artist and mother Mollie Walton Corbett. “My thoughts and prayers also are with the first responders who first saw and recovered his little body. I pray the burden of what they’ve seen will be made light for them.”

Shreveport resident Sunday Wallace was part of the citizen search team that spent five hours Wednesday night searching for the child.

Wallace said about 60 community members started a search at 8:30 p.m. and continued till almost 2 a.m, walking along ditches near Hearne Avenue.

Wallace, whose own child died soon after birth, said her heart hurts for Daysean’s family.

“I helped search because if it was my child, I would want someone to help,” Wallace said. “I am so sorry that this happened. There is nothing more important than our kids.

“As adults, we have to take more responsibility. We’re burying our kids before they bury us, and that is just not right,” she said. “It’s a cruel world we live in, and we have to stick together.”

Tyler announced at the press conference that a GoFundMe account has been set up to cover costs for Daysean’s funeral. Donations also can be made in person at several local sites through August 11.

If you want to donate:

Go online: Go to GoFundMe.com and search for ‘Daysean Combest Funeral Expenses’ or go directly to https://www.gofundme.com/daysean-combest-funeral-expenses.

Go in-person: Donations also can be made in-person Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m through Aug. 11 to the “Daysean Combest Funeral Donations” fund at the Professional Firefighters Credit Union at: 9410 Heathplex Drive near I-49 and Bert Kouns or at 1907 Benton Road, Suite 100.

11:20 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3

The body of a child missing since heavy rain fell the early afternoon of Tuesday was found this morning in a ditch in southwest Shreveport about two miles from where he was last seen alive, the Caddo coroner has confirmed.



Caddo Parish Coroner's office personnel and Shreveport Police crime-scene investigators determined that a body found by railroad contractors around 7:30 a.m. in rocks in Brushy Bayou was that of Daysean Combest.



The 7-year-old was last seen playing near a ditch close to Orla Avenue in Ingleside, not far from the Louisiana State Fair Grounds, just before heavy rains lashed the city. The site where the body was recovered by the Caddo Parish Coroner, Shreveport police and fire personnel and the Caddo Sheriff's Office Marine Unit, was just east of Union Pacific Railroad construction south of West 70th Street on Mansfield Road.



The body will be autopsied at University Health.



9:33 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3

Shreveport City Officials have found what they believe is the missing 7-year-old. The family has been notified by Mayor Ollie Tyler, Shreveport fire and police chiefs, the city's chief administrative officer and ministers.

The Caddo Coroner's Office will confirm the identity.

Details of the findings will be released at an 11 a.m. press update at 7300 Mansfield Road.

9:09 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3

A body bag is visible on the scene of the Mansfield Road area where recovery efforts of a boy swept away in a drainage ditch during Tuesday afternoon's rain resumed this morning.

The Caddo Parish Coroner is on the scene.

A reporter and photographer are on scene. Check back for updates.

More:Hope dims for boy lost in rain water more than 24 hours ago