Man Called Police to Say Missing 13-Year-Old Boy Was Dead — and He Knew Where to Find the Body By KC Baker 46

The last time anyone saw 13-year-old Airen Andula, he was riding his bike in his Kansas neighborhood on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 21.

Two days later he was found dead in a desolate creek bed in Bates County, Mo., 30 miles from his home, according to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office in Kansas.

Now, Damon Leonard, 47, of Pleasanton, is charged with abandonment of a corpse in Bates County, according to online court records.

He is expected to face additional charges in Kansas, authorities in Bates County said, according to a probable cause statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Andula vanished on Sunday after riding his bike to a neighbor’s house to feed their pets while they were away, KSHB reports. He was reported missing that evening after failing to return home to his parents in Holiday Lakes, according to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

On Tuesday, Dec. 23, while authorities in Kansas were still searching for Andula, the Bates County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri responded to Leonard’s home after he allegedly called to say that he knew where the missing boy was and that he was dead, according to a probable cause statement obtained by PEOPLE.

During an interview at Leonard’s home, he allegedly told deputies he took the deceased child from Kansas to a location in Bates County, according to the probable cause statement.

After obtaining a search warrant, deputies accompanied Leonard to a remote area in rural Bates County where he told deputies he placed the boy’s dead body — down a large ravine in a creek bed, the probable cause statement alleges.

“Leonard admitted that he transported the deceased child from Kansas to Missouri and left the body at the bottom of the creek bed before traveling back to Kansas where he resides,” the probable cause statement alleges.

Police have not said how Andula died.

Andula’s parents are devastated by the loss of their son.

The boy was apparently found “in a brush pile, covered up,” and thrown away like “trash,” his father, Charles Andula, told KSHB.

“I just can’t imagine him laying there like that,” he said.

Calling her son’s disappearance and death “a big nightmare,” Andula’s mother, Anita Gunn, said, “It’s unbelievable and we’re still not wanting to believe it’s real, but we know it is,” KSHB reports.

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On Tuesday, Dec. 23, Leonard pleaded not guilty in Bates County Circuit Court.

He is being held at the Bates County jail in Missouri on a $100,000 bond pending extradition to Kansas.

His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2026.

It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can comment on his behalf.