Cory Samuel Cole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On January 26, Samantha Warden told police she watched Howard Cole abuse their son Cory when he “flung” him onto a bed. Cory Cole was first reported missing on Jan. 29 by his mother, who told police that her fiancé, Howard Cole, had left with the baby. She signed an arrest warrant affidavit on that same day accusing Cole of abusing Cory. “He picked him up from his crib held him in the air & said shut the f**k up & threw him down on the bed across the room 4ft,” according to the handwritten affidavit signed by Warden.

When Cole was arrested on child abuse charges on January 30, Cory was not with him. Cole was questioned as to Cory’s location and well-being, and later led detectives at night to a “shallow grave” in a rural area where he said he had taken and left the Cory. Whether or not Cory had been alive when he was abandoned in the woods was not clear.

 

Howard Cole was indicted on charges of capital murder and illegal disposal of a body in April after he led police to his son’s body in January. Cole also faced one count of felony child abuse however, prosecution is dropping the charge so it can focus on the capital murder case. Samantha Warden is facing one count of felony child neglect.