An enormous hunt is on for a 9-year-old Indiana boy — after his household solely not too long ago realized he’s truly been lacking for greater than 5 years.
Hayden Manis’ family members, together with his grandparents and aunts, instructed WTHR that they assumed the teenager was together with his dad, who was awarded custody regardless of their fierce objections over his alarming historical past of abusing medication.
However they lastly reported him lacking late final yr — having realized none of them had seen him since Christmas Eve 2019, when he was simply 4.
They concern he might need been killed by his dad — who died of a drug overdose in November, quickly after he was quizzed about his lacking son.
“I can’t ever remember something quite like this,” Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman instructed the outlet of the hunt round Muncie, about 50 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
“It haunts me every day.”
When Hayden was nonetheless a child, his mother and father misplaced custody of him over drug-related arrests, and he went to reside together with his grandfather, Gary Manis, whom he referred to as “Paw Paw,” the household instructed WTHR.
Hayden’s father, Dustin Manis, ultimately completed his court-ordered probation and drug therapy, and was once more given custody of his son — regardless of his grandfather’s fierce objections.
“He’s a drug addict,” Gary Manis mentioned of his troubled son. “I told them, I begged them, not to give him back. Wasn’t my choice. Wouldn’t even let me speak in court,” the granddad mentioned. “He did what they required of him and they gave (Hayden) back.”
Although visits with prolonged household continued for slightly after Hayden returned to his father’s care, they ultimately stopped after Christmas Eve 2019 — and the dad by no means instructed something was unsuitable.
“At least every month, I’d message him: ‘Hey we’re doing this or that. Can you come?’” his nice aunt Barbara Phillips mentioned.
“We wanted him to know we wanted them there. We wanted to be a part of their lives,” one other nice aunt, Shellie Sewell, mentioned.
“We’d say, ‘Can you and Hayden come have dinner with us? And he would respond with, ‘We’ll try. I’ll try. Everything’s fine. We’re OK. Hayden’s fine. We’ll try to make it.’ But we never did get to see him. He never came to anything.”
Textual content messages revealed Dustin moved out of city in 2021 — and he quickly stopped answering messages fully, making his household imagine he was too busy or now not wished to go to them.
After years with out contact, his household realized one thing was unsuitable final yr when Hayden’s two great-grandmothers bumped into one another at a grocery retailer — and one talked about that Dustin had instructed her years earlier he misplaced custody of Hayden once more.
“She went straight home and called [grandfather Gary] and said ‘Something is off, something’s not right,’” Shellie mentioned.
The household instantly referred to as Youngster Protecting Providers and the police, who discovered Dustin — however not his son.
Dustin instructed officers that CPS took his son in 2022 and returned him to his mom — which police rapidly decided was a lie. Their investigation revealed that the kid had been lacking since 2020.
“To say that that has complicated the case is an understatement,” mentioned Hoffman, the prosecutor. “To get the call in 2024 that you’ve not seen a child since 2020 is a huge hurdle.”
Dustin was questioned in November, earlier than being arrested when officers discovered heroin and meth on him. He was bonded out — simply to die of a drug overdose.
With no signal of Hayden, his household concern the worst.
“I don’t believe he’s alive,” his great-aunt Shellie mentioned, with the remainder of his family members agreeing. “I mean, the police have been working on this nonstop since September, and there’s been no sign of him.”
Hayden, who would now be almost 10 years outdated, has been added to a nationwide registry of lacking and exploited youngsters.
“There are very few days I come to this office and I don’t think about Hayden Manis,” mentioned Hoffman, the prosecutor.
“This case is on my mind, and it’s on the investigators’ minds on a daily basis. We’re not going to stop until we get to an answer. We need to know the truth.”
