Isaiah Theis (Photo: Polk County Sheriff’s Department)
The Polk County district attorney says the death of a two-year-old boy from rural Centuria has been ruled an accident and no charges will be filed.
The body of Isaiah Theis was found in the trunk of a car parked on his family’s property on July 17, 2013, about 27 hours after he had been reported missing. Thousands of volunteers aided in the search for Theis, but authorities did not check a car parked on the property because they believed it had been locked the entire time.
The car was opened when the owner came to pick it up the next day, and police found the body of the boy at that time. An autopsy determined he likely died of exposure to extreme heat, which caused hyperthermia.
Polk County District Attorney Daniel Steffen says there was a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding Theis’ disappearance and death, and he is confident that officials went “above and beyond in providing me with as complete a picture as possible as to what happened.” Steffen says “numerous forensic tests were conducted and recreations of the events of that day all point to the same conclusion that this was an accident.”
Steffen says, as far as his office is concerned, the case is now closed.