Unsealed warrant shows TBI no longer believes Joseph Daniels' confession

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A warrant has provided more details on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s recent search of the Dickson County property where Joe Clyde Daniels disappeared.

The 5-year-old vanished from his Dickson County home more than two years ago. His father, Joseph, confessed and is charged with homicide. However, he recanted, and now I've learned the case against him may indeed be falling apart.

NewsChannel 5 has obtained a copy of the fully unsealed warrant. The document indicates that investigators searched the property back in May because they didn’t believe Joseph Daniels’ confession that he beat the boy to death and then drove away in his Chevrolet Impala to dispose of the body.

According to the warrant, nearby security video shows that vehicle never left the home. So, the TBI decided the father hid the body somewhere on the property. They searched, and by all indications, did not find the boy's remains.

This is key on two fronts: First, we now know the TBI does not even believe the father's confession, and without that confession or the body, they have very little to prove even if the boy is dead.

Defense attorney Jake Lockert has a theory about what really happened to Joe Clyde. First, Lockert says the TBI coerced the confession from the father. Second, the TBI confirms a witness saw a little boy believed to be Joe Clyde out on the road after midnight.

The boy had been prone to sneaking out of the home and may have wandered away. Lockert says it's entirely possible Joe Clyde was abducted.

Whatever the case, he says there's no evidence to prove the father killed the child, and that will be a problem for the prosecution at trial next year.