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Boy's Father Questioned, Released In Beaver County

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Sep 6, 2009 6:29 am US/Eastern

Boy's Father Questioned, Released In Beaver County

Reporting
Ralph Iannotti
GREENE TOWNSHIP (KDKA) ― The search for a missing Beaver County child ended abruptly and tragically Saturday afternoon and while criminal charges are expected, so far, no one has been arrested.

After several hours of questioning by state police, 29-year-old John Smitsky, the boy's father, was released from custody facing no criminal charges at the present time.

"He's overwhelmed, I mean as you can imagine, he's saying that he had nothing to do with this and he's been in custody and his son died," said attorney Joseph Horowitz. "It's just been a terrible day for him."

Earlier in the day, 4-year-old Wyatt Smitsky's mother, Terri, was at the state police barracks for questioning as well. She too was allowed to go home.

"The whole family has been questioned; we've interviewed the mother, we've interviewed the father, we're interviewing neighbors right now," said Lt. Thomas Dubovi, of the State Police. "So, we're just trying to find out the whereabouts of the child before he went missing and what was going on at that time."

The search for Smitsky started Friday evening after a family member reported him missing. There was an extensive overnight search involving hundreds of volunteers.

The search resumed Saturday morning, but ended early in the afternoon after Smitsky's body was found stuffed in a septic tank, which sits along a fence separating the family's yard from a neighbor's property.

"We believe that he could not have got into that septic tank without being put there," said Lt. Dubovi. "He couldn't have removed that heavy lid that sits on that septic tank by himself."

While state police continue to treat the case as a homicide, the Beaver County Coroner won't conduct an autopsy on the body until Sunday.

After that, there will be a ruling made on the boy's cause of death.

Meanwhile, a prayer vigil has been scheduled for Wyatt Smitsky for Sunday night.

It will be held at the Hookstown Free Methodist Church at 7 p.m.

Stay with KDKA for the latest on this developing story.

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