NEWTOWN COUNTY, GA (WGCL/CNN) - It's a heartbreaking end to a search for a newborn.
The 15-day-old baby, Caliyah McNabb, was found dead in a wooded area on Sunday, a day after being reported missing.
According to the sheriff's office, her parents said they fed and changed her at 5 a.m. Saturday from the Eagle Point mobile home community in Covington. They reported her missing at 10 a.m.
The discovery of the body at 3 p.m. Sunday followed an intense search in the woods close to her home.
Tim Bell loved his little granddaughter with all his heart.
"She was tiny. You had to feed her every two hours. You had to change her little diapers there. Her little head was the size of a tennis ball. She was so little. And her whole little body was about that big around. And she was just precious," he said.
When Bell heard a tiny body was found inside a duffel bag in the woods and that the Newton County Sheriff's Office believes it's the little girl, he felt like his heart had been ripped out.
"From the first time you pick them up, there's love there. That love is broken. It hurts like I have never hurt before," he said.
Bell was with a sheriff's deputy when all units were alerted.
"I heard it on his CB - All units respond to 36 Highway up there. He said, 'I have to go,'" he said.
In another strange twist, once Bell's daughter, Caliyah's mother, found out about the discovery through a text message - the father, Christopher McNabb, took off running, according to police.
Four hours later, he was found near a convenience store and charged with a probation violation.
"What would you tell whoever did it? That you're going to hell. That's where you're going. Killing a young one like that - something that little and tiny, defenseless - you are going to hell," Bell said.
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