5 years later: Remembering the Braylen Noble case and the questions that remain

TOLEDO, Ohio — It was the case that gripped a city.

On Sept. 4, 2020, 3-year-old Braylen Noble was reported missing from his south Toledo apartment. Within hours, police, fire crews and volunteers were combing the grounds at Hunter’s Ridge. Search dogs tracked through brush, neighbors scoured dumpsters and divers plunged into the murky apartment pool. Vigils sprang up nearby as residents taped missing-child flyers to utility poles and prayed for a safe return for the nonverbal child with autism.

For five days, the search consumed the community. Every development drew crowds and cameras, with people gathering at the complex to watch investigators and hold out hope.

When Braylen’s body was discovered in the same pool that had been searched before, the community's heartbreak was immed