'Miracle' amid tragedy: 1-year-old boy found alive alongside highway after older brother found dead in Beryl's wake



A grandmother in Louisiana is both celebrating and mourning after her 1-year-old grandson was found alive hours after the lifeless body of his 4-year-old brother was pulled from a lake.

A tragic storm

Hurricane Beryl hit landfall early Monday morning, unleashing heavy rain and knocking out electricity for some three million Texans. It also caused similar disturbances in Vinton, Louisiana, a city of some 3,400 residents just east of the Texas border.

On Monday afternoon, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office received a report of a body floating in a lake just behind the Vinton Welcome Center. The agency then released a brief description of the deceased on Facebook, calling him only "an African American child."

Soon afterward, Conswella Jack of Lake Charles, Louisiana, came forward, fearing that the body might be that of her 4-year-old grandson, Legend. Sadly, she was right.

'Looked like it was wrecked': Background of a troubled family

Already heartbroken, Jack then informed deputies that Legend has a 1-year-old brother, Kingtrail, whom she had not seen since her mother's funeral on Saturday.

'We were in the process of moving assets out to Vinton to search the body of water to see if we could locate the 1-year-old.'

Jack also shared information about her family that heightened everyone's concerns about little Kingtrail. Jack claimed that her daughter, 25-year-old Aaliyah Jack, is the mother of both boys. Though Aaliyah has legal custody of them, she had recently "fallen on hard times," Jack indicated.

So, Conswella Jack decided to care for Kingtrail, the boys' paternal grandmother watched over Legend, and Aaliyah Jack fled to Baton Rouge for reasons unknown. The family was reunited on Saturday at the funeral for Conswella's mother.

Aaliyah also attended the funeral. While there, she reassumed custody of her sons and left.

In the hours that followed, Conswella became frantic, trying to reach Aaliyah. "The next day, which was Sunday, after trying to call her, she finally reaches out to me, but it's a text," Conswella recalled. "She sent me a picture of a car in some bushes that kind of looked like it was wrecked."

Aaliyah made no further contact, and Conswella told investigators she worried that Kingtrail may have met the same fate as Legend.

"We were in the process of moving assets out to Vinton to search the body of water to see if we could locate the 1-year-old," said Calcasieu Sheriff Stitch Guillory.

'He smiled at me': A miraculous discovery

At around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, while deputies and the Jack family prepared for the worst about Kingtrail, a truck driver, unaware of the recent tragedy, was just going about his business, driving along Interstate 10 not far from the Vinton Welcome Center. Suddenly, he spotted something in a ditch alongside the road.

"There was a little boy sitting down in the embankment there," the unidentified trucker recalled.

"As I approached him, he smiled at me and then he started crying and walked toward me," he continued. "Once he walked toward me, I grabbed his hand and he stopped crying at that point."

The trucker then phoned police, who later confirmed that the boy was indeed the missing Kingtrail. Though he had suffered bug bites, he otherwise was in good condition and has already been released from the hospital.

Sheriff Guillory said his office views Kingtrail "as our miracle baby." "This kid spent two days out in the weather on the side of the highway," an incredulous Guillory said at a press conference. "Thank God that trucker seen him."

"Unbelievable."

'So blessed ... but also so hurt': Continued fallout

A warrant was later issued for Aaliyah Jack for failing to report a missing child, and she was soon taken into custody in Meridian, Mississippi, about 400 miles east of Vinton, Louisiana, where her boys were found. She is currently fighting extradition to Louisiana, where she faces a bond of $300,000.

Meanwhile, her mother has been left to grieve one grandson while fighting for custody of the other. "I was so blessed to hear the baby survived, but also so hurt because one is now gone," Conswella Jack said.

"It’s stressful because they're gonna put me through all what I'm about to go through just to get [Kingtrail] back," she continued. "I don't even have the funds for it, so I have to do everything I can to get that baby back, because ain't nobody know him like we know him."

Kingtrail is currently believed to be in state custody. So far, no cause of death has been determined for his brother, Legend, whose body had no obvious injuries when it was recovered. The results of the autopsy are pending.

Further charges in this case could be forthcoming.

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Texas officials slam Biden's attempt to politicize Beryl, call his suggestion a 'complete lie'



Hurricane Beryl — now classified as a weakened tropical depression — made landfall on the Texas coast early Monday, causing significant flooding and knocking out power to millions of Americans. According to PowerOutage.us, approximately 1.7 million residents, primarily in the southeastern portion of the state, were still without power as of Wednesday morning.

President Joe Biden told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday that his administration had been unable to provide prompt emergency aid to the Lone Star State following the storm's landing due to the White House's inability to "track down" state leaders and obtain a formal request for a major disaster declaration.

"I've been trying to track down the governor to see — I don't have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor," said Biden.

The Chronicle, which endorsed Biden earlier this year, originally published the Democratic president's suggestion without comment from state leaders. Its report also contained a line that has since been removed claiming that a White House spokesperson "said officials tried to reach Abbott and Patrick multiple times," apparently without success.

Texas officials have suggested that Biden's suggestion and the Chronicle's report did not track with the reality of the situation. Both Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R) and Governor Greg Abbott (R) indicated Tuesday that Biden was either lying or suffering a memory malfunction.

'Biden's memory fails again.'

"I am disappointed that President Biden is turning Hurricane Beryl into a political issue," Patrick wrote on X. "We had a cordial call today that ended up with him granting my request for a major disaster declaration. But that's not good enough for him. He is falsely accusing me that I was not reachable."

Patrick indicated further that Biden, who has been facing intense scrutiny from friends and critics alike over his decrepitude, "obviously did not know his own employees from FEMA were side-by-side with me for 3 days!"

"All he had to do was call them and have them hand their phone to me. I even took a photo with them!" continued Patrick. "Before we made an official ask, we needed to determine what our outstanding needs were. We were working with local officials as we traveled the impacted areas. As I was being briefed today, the president called."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Asia on Friday in order to cultivate and strengthen economic partnerships in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Until Abbott's return on Saturday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has been serving the Lone Star State as acting governor.

On July 5, days before the storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, Patrick declared a state of disaster, authorizing the use of all available state resources necessary to "cope with this disaster."

The governor's office confirmed Tuesday that Patrick had gone a step farther and had spoken to Biden, requesting a federal disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency — a request that was granted.

Adopting one of Biden's go-to turns of phrase, Patrick said, "This is a load of malarkey, and he's shoveling it!"

On Wednesday morning, Patrick criticized "Biden's lie" further, summarizing the situation accordingly: "I asked for a federal disaster declaration at the proper time without delay and the president agreed. Sadly, President Biden is attacking Gov. Abbott and me, trying to score political points, for reasons that make no sense. Mr. President, as you like to say, 'C'mon, man!'

— (@)

Abbott similarly shredded Biden's apparent attempt to suggest his administration had been unreachable.

"Biden's memory fails again," Abbott wrote Tuesday evening. "Not once did he call me during Beryl. He has my number & called me on Memorial Day after tornadoes hit Texas. I've had daily calls with state & local officials during Beryl. I spoke with FEMA Admin while on our trade mission but Biden never called."

Andrew Mahaleris, the governor's press secretary, said, "This is a complete lie from Biden, and frankly doesn't make any sense. Biden and his Administration know exactly how to get in contact with the Governor and have on numerous occasions in the past, most recently on Friday when FEMA called and spoke with him."

Mahaleris also blasted the Houston Chronicle, noting, "A lie travels halfway across the world before the truth puts it's [sic] boots on. @HoustonChron ran a false exclusive story on this nonsense, based off what an incoherent President said, before we had a chance to refute it. This is why Americans have lost faith in media."

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