Cody, this is the Indian River County Sheriff's Office. Right. And she's like, "Look, it's speeding right now." And the thing's moving like 12 miles an hour. >> And there was obvious no one or no adults around. I don't know. Nothing. >> Saturday, May 3rd, 2025, Vero Beach, Florida. The first alarm did not come from police, but from a neighbor playing with his daughter in a residential neighborhood. In front of him appeared a three-year-old girl, alone, dirty, and bearing fresh injuries, walking out from the treeine as if she had been lost for hours. How had she gotten there with no one searching for her? Authorities now had to act quickly and determine who was responsible. I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime. >> Hello, dear. >> Hi. >> Yes, thank you. Um, I'm sorry, he hadn't bother. I'm shaking right now. Um, me and my daughter out in the yard playing. I look up right there >> where that fallen tree is. >> Yeah. Came out of here. I don't I know everybody around here. This is not anybody's kid. >> Came out of them woods. I'm shaking right now. >> What kind of truck was it that drove up here? >> It was a white car. I'm not sure. It looked like an old Toyota, like a '9s, >> like a like an old Corolla or something >> kind of. And it was full of looked like migrant men. >> Okay. >> And they weren't acting suspicious or anything, but they were like, "Hey, hey, is this your kid?" I was like, "No." And then they were trying to make her over there. And I was like, "No, the hell you won't." This literally just happened and not three months ago and yeah and now it's gonna happen all over again. You can see >> you're all right. I I understand the child child. I was freaking out cuz I literally just got home cuz I know you can hear this thing going driving. >> I told dispatch I was like whoever pulls up besides an officer they're not and they made me secure my firearm in the house. >> Yeah. >> She wasn't going anywhere. She's still not until she let you. No offense. >> Oh I know. Believe me. The discovery was disturbing on its own, but even more so when compared to an earlier case of neglect under the father's custody investigated in January. That file had been closed only weeks earlier, raising the pressing question, was this a tragic coincidence or the repeat of a dangerous pattern as officers began piecing the facts together. Suspicion inevitably returned to the same adult who had already been under investigation months before. >> Yeah, this my house. This is my little one over there coming this way. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Luckily everybody's pretty smart. We don't have a bunch of >> Yeah. I think we only have one. We only have one over there. >> Well, I mean I know we got a couple. >> Yeah. One over here on the corner. >> Yeah. I mean I know some are pedophiles, but one's a >> Yeah. >> Okay. He's the one with the truck, right? >> Yeah. It's No, there's another family. There's a >> Oh, good god. >> Yeah. Yeah. There's Yeah, they have like five of them. Five kids >> ended up down here. I mean, we know about them, but we >> We're there. We're there every other weekend. So, >> I've seen that. I was out here riding my mini bike and you guys had the whole SWAT team or who whole crew over there. So, do I need to be worried? >> It's the Brown's house. >> Do I need to be worried? >> No, they just they're just he just they're just crazy. >> Okay. >> Is it the one on this side or the one? >> It's It's on this road right here. 26. >> Okay. >> And it's uh the one at the corner >> with the trailer pull behind you. >> Uh I think it's the it's one with all the trash out in front. It's like pretty trashy out. It's like It looks like a >> fenced in one. No, it's the open. >> Yeah, you take a left right here. Your first left, all three corners, there's a central critter on each one. >> Oh, man. >> Yeah, if you pull up on your thing. So, I know that when you turn the one, there's the fenced in area with all the lights and trash. I don't know what they did. And then there's the old man down there with the pool behind you. >> Was that the one that came outside or No. >> Um, I don't know. I've never seen him. Only the bald guy down there that's registered. And then there's u another like a black gentleman down there that's registered. But I've never seen any of those two down here. And the ones that are down there in like the trash stuff, I don't even know what they look like. >> So, >> I guess the one that came outside wasn't a predator. >> That's not good. >> That's the first thing I asked him because I guess there's one right here down the street. >> Yeah. Oh, they're all in here because there's no schools here and >> Yeah. >> Yeah. There's a lot here. >> I think uh dad he was working outside and out and I don't know. >> Yeah. >> And that that that is right there. >> Oh, it is. >> Right at 22nd Street. There's a there's a patch of woods here. >> Yeah. >> In the house. The trailer, I think. >> Yeah. I I don't think it was on purpose. I just I just think he wasn't paying attention for a second. And >> hopefully it was just short time. >> He said it was 5 minutes. Like literally, he he he was like on the phone. He was coming home. >> Oh, that's not what uh >> uh that's what she said up here. They they they had that traffic complaint over off of 43rd and 8th. >> Yeah. >> I had literally sat there for 2 days and gotten one speeder. >> Yeah, that's normal. >> Yeah. >> We would get complaints in the dump trucks. have to go sit on dump trucks. >> 66 >> over 510 bridge uh and A1A when I'm speeding. >> They know better. >> One one out of 100, man. >> Yeah, they know better. >> The lady goes, they speed all over. We're getting gas. Those dump trucks speed like crazy. And then you hear to you hear one turn off of US1 on 510 to go eastbound. We're at the 7-Eleven. She's like, and you hear it go, right? And she's like, "Look, it's speeding right now." And the thing's moving like 12 miles an hour because it just turned off a US1. I'm like, "Damn, it's just that's just >> it's full of >> that's just the sound." >> And they know better because it's a criminal citation for them to have the uh the top thing. So, they're always catch. >> Yeah, they're they're pretty good. >> Hi, ma'am. Good. Good. >> Hi. >> How are you? Hi. I I I know this may feel a little redundant. I know you spoke to the other deputies already, but I'm the deputy who's here to investigate whatever happened today. Okay. >> Okay. >> So, can you tell me uh what happened to your knowledge? >> All right. To my knowledge, literally I can probably tell you the phone call. I received a phone call. I just got done like shopping and picking my friend up. I was dropping her off at home >> just hanging out a minute, you know, chitchatting, whatever. Girlfriend, too. and he called me on the phone and said he couldn't. >> Who's he? >> Okay. And which I she's only like two blocks down. So I immediately came and double checked the house and then I soon as I got in the car to leave and drive around the neighborhood, I seen the deputy here and I came here. >> So who called you again? Sorry. Can you clarify who who called you? >> Called you and say again >> he couldn't find >> And why didn't he call the police? that he was hoping that hides. She likes to hide. Does she hides behind? Yeah. She does it to me all the time. But do >> she doesn't run away on >> Do you guys live together? >> No, you're not living together right now. >> Are you legally married together? How long have you been separated? >> Um, it's been like >> two weeks. >> Two weeks. Yeah. >> And what time did you drop off to him today? I um well, we all had went to go earlier to get something to eat and what have you and get a few birthday things because he needed to go and I dropped him off. I left at it was 5:30 >> 5:30 p.m. >> like 10 to Yeah, it was like in between 5:30 and 10 to 6 is when >> Okay. So, you dropped off >> dropped him off >> between >> to go pick pick up my friend. >> And how long to be there with him today? The timeline began to tighten. The girl had been dropped off at her father's home around 5:30 p.m. Yet, her mother did not receive a message until 7:21 p.m. saying that she was missing. For a 3-year-old, a nearly 2-hour gap is far beyond any trivial explanation. At that age, mere minutes can create an extreme risk. From a legal standpoint, that lapse became a central element of the case. This was not a matter of briefly losing sight of a child, but of allowing her absence to stretch long enough that outsiders had to intervene. >> Um, she was only there like I don't for very long. Just a couple an hour or two. >> Okay. >> Maybe. >> And off so that you can run some errands with that. >> Do you guys have a custody agreement or anything in place or you got to work it out together? Oh, it's it's just he Yeah, basically I take care of all the time and I you know because he's done this before. >> What What do you mean he's done this before? >> All right. So, I just got out of a open DCF case because the last time I in his care ran away, >> I'm trying to think who the death was. It was um it was a well every a bunch of them. So, but um >> so this is so >> it was like in December or January. She's watching >> of this year of like this year December/ January. >> Yes. I I can't remember the exact >> Was law enforcement involved in that case? >> Yes. Yes. Because a lady wouldn't get back to dad and had already called law enforcement. So y'all were already on the way so on so forth and not and the same issue I was >> Did he get in trouble with law enforcement during that incident or no? >> No. No. the the only DCF case is on me cuz it DCF lady literally says it falls back on it's my responsibility. >> So to clarify, so today at 5:30 p.m. you went you dropped off to be with dad while you while you were doing some errands and shopping and then at 7:21 p.m. he calls you from his phone saying, "Hey, I can't find." >> What else did he say to you? >> Did you? >> I don't know. I mean, it was kind of like, you know, like, "Are you sure?" At the time I didn't know that my other my other boys were there too and they must have left and gone to their friends and so >> how old are your other kids? >> They are seven and nine. >> Seven and nine. Do we know where they are right now? >> Um they should be home >> with dad. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> But um >> so there's two other kids that are there right now. >> Yeah. Well, they go to their friend's house and that's why I was asking where the boys were and they were supposed to be at their friend's house but they know they're supposed to be home by 7:00. Interviews with the mother would add a troubling detail. She said she was almost always the one caring for the girl and recalled that on a prior occasion, the father had even fled from police while responsible for her. On top of that came the uncertainty surrounding the two older siblings who were supposed to return home by 7, but whose whereabouts remained unclear. For investigators, this combination of past incidents and present contradictions made the case even more serious. It was no longer just one unsupervised child, but the possibility that all three siblings were in danger. >> Can you tell me exactly what from the beginning what you saw, what happened? >> Yeah. I was sitting over there and I saw out a corner of my eye seen her come out of the woods over here >> like right out of here and I was just waiting for somebody to walk cuz it was like adjacent to the truck. >> Walking or crawling? >> Walking. >> Okay. >> Perfectly fine. And then when I got up and walked over here, I looked there was nobody coming. And right in front of where this white SUV my friend lives right there. There was a like an older I want to say like a Toyota, maybe a four-door. And there was about four or five Hispanic men in there. They weren't they weren't acting aggressive or anything. And they were like, "Hey." I'm like, "No." And they were trying to take her over there to there's a gentleman that lives here named where the where the truck is over here. >> Yeah. >> And they're like, "No, no, they got boys. It's not." And they're like, "Well, take her." I was like, "No, you're not. You're not. Nobody." So I >> was animal. >> So then they came by one more time, >> but I think they were just making sure that I wasn't >> and then >> can you walk over there? Can you show me specifically walk out of here? >> Yeah, right. >> Well, I directly come out >> come from this way and I was just looking this way coming down the street and I said, "Hey, what are you doing?" Came right here up. So I was sitting right there and this is when I standing right here. >> She appeared to be in distress pants. >> She was very happy. Didn't seem scared at all. She seemed >> Are you familiar with her? Have you ever met before? >> Never. >> Okay. >> Never. Um there's a lot of children that resemble the neighborhood, but I can personally say I've never seen her before. I've seen >> obvious of no one or no adults around >> nothing. Just the the car full of the strange men. >> Okay. Um, I'm gonna go down there. Number one, there's supposed to be two more kids, seven and nine. Oh, wow. >> I need to be sure the other kids are not missing. I don't want mom to leave yet. Um, and I want to see what DC wants to see. They just had a case for the same issue. I overheard >> and there was there wasn't an arrest in that case. Uh, so I don't know the circumstances of it. Nonetheless, this is >> um, so we're going to go down. >> Did you say how long? Do we ever get a time frame? >> I uh, Mom dropped off the baby at 5:30 p.m. >> So I don't know how long. Dad dad called her at 7:21 saying that oh I can't find her and that's why mom drove over here panicking figure out what happened >> right >> so >> I have to go talk to dad to figure out the blanks but um at this point this this going to be child matter what it is cuz look how far we are from the house and >> and all that coming out of the woods right there is wild like that's not a trail no hands be crawling through the woods died in the woods, you know, >> or animals. >> Anything. >> Yeah. Or that carpet kept up there. >> Well, there's like 20 somethingers that live over here. But you never know what. >> Can you just be sure she doesn't leave? >> Yeah, I'll hang with you. >> How about to tell her right now? >> Yeah, we tried. It's like a built house. We tried knocking and nobody came too. There's nobody around. >> There's two other kids that are supposed to be here. Seven and nine. >> We haven't heard nobody. The window shakers aren't going. There's nobody. We tried knocking on that fish door thing and we haven't heard >> click from anybody. And then there's a if you go by these power poles, there's a trail that goes all the way along. And I think that maybe that's where she went. >> You can tell it's like a wellworn trail between it's like a mini alleyway between the houses here and there. Did you get everybody's information? >> Okay. >> Hey, Cody, this is Coriz with the Inenver County Sheriff's Office. We're currently outside your residence. Uh we're here to do a welfare check on your kid. So, if you can give me a call back or step outside the house. Thank you. >> Give me a key. So, she's representative. >> She wants us to go in and check them over for the kids. If they're not here, she said they probably ran off to uh >> a friend's house and Adrian's trying to get that information out. >> All right. Well, if they're not here and they're not there, they're >> Oh, 100%. Yeah, we'll be calling everybody out. So, >> all right. >> Let's make sure we clear this. And then she said this might not work cuz it depends on the dead bolt. This only one side of it, but we'll go from there. >> All right. There should be another >> tell you how to get in, >> which way to go. >> Cody, this is the Indian River County Sheriff's Office. If you're inside, make yourself known. We are going to make entry. >> The investigation now focused on the legal framework. In Florida, child is established when a minor is exposed to foreseeable harm due to lack of proper care. An open passage between properties and prolonged lack of supervision fit that definition precisely. The January incident, closed only weeks earlier, reinforced the notion that prior warnings had already existed and failed to produce longlasting safeguards. Entering the father's residence was no longer a routine step. It was essential to determine whether the N would extend to the entire family. >> No. >> Cody, this is the Indian River County Sheriff's Office. If you're inside the house, make yourself known. We are going to make entry. Cody, Sheriff's Office, you in the room? Since we are no longer searching or in the residence, we can deactivate our body cameras. Actually, just pull pull the car up here and then I'm um we'll take the laptop out and bring it over. >> Yes, sir. >> Hey, this is Corpor County Sheriff's Office. >> Yes, sir. >> Hey, who am I speaking with? >> Cody. >> Hey. Hey, Cody. This is Cor with the Sheriff's Office. How you doing today, man? >> Not doing too good, man. >> All right. Well, we were trying to get a hold of you yesterday, but you weren't home. >> My I was home. my phone I my and my phone they say y'all found it in the ditch but it must have fell out of my pocket or something when you know it scared me so I I ran down the ditch and then I seen the officer at the corner of this thing and like I didn't really you know what I mean she just she was playing in the front yard and then she ran down the ditch. >> All right. So >> yeah. So Cody um would you be willing to talk to me in person? >> Nope. Because y'all say y'all want to shoot a warrant out for my arrest. I'm definitely I'm not going back to jail. I don't want to go to jail. I don't deserve to go to jail. I don't understand. I don't mind talking, you know, but the last time they tricked me. They they took I I don't So, listen. I don't know. >> So, Cody, can you hear me? >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, let me just explain something to you real quick, Cody, real fast. And then and then >> I'm going to jail. I can't go home. >> Well, hang on. Let me explain something to you real quick, Cody. Okay. Cuz understand you you reached out to another deputy because you wanted to talk and I appreciate that. Okay. But Cody, just because of the the allegations of what's going on, I just want to make you aware that you understand yet you do not have to talk to me. Correct. >> I know. But I want to be in trouble. >> I know I legally have to say this to you though, Cody. That's all. I got I'm I'm just trying to be sure I do my job the right way. So, you understand, Cody? You understand? You don't have to talk to me, right? And you can hang up at any time. Do you understand that? >> I do. >> With that in mind, are you willing to speak with me, Cody, over the phone? Yeah, I'm tired of talk, but I don't I don't want to go to jail. Me and my wife My wife leaving me and start camping together while >> So, Cody, let me ask you this, man. What What happened yesterday? What? What happened? >> All I did she was playing right there in the driveway like my buddies just left uh from going to the scrapyard or whatever, you know, and um she was right here playing in the little sand pile out front and then she moved over there to the ditch. Well, I had to walk around because I can't just cut through my backyard, you know. >> Okay. >> Through the fence because I don't got a gate. So, I she was right there by the beer cans and stuff playing at that time. >> Okay. >> So, then I walked around because my wife's little dog, Costa, is scared of me for whatever reason. I've never done anything to harm this poor dog. >> Yeah. >> But it runs, you know, he's scared of most males. Okay. >> So, >> he got out down the road. He ran down the road. >> So, I wasn't even trying to run him. You know what I mean? I try Costa Coasta and then I come back like I was literally probably 20 ft somewhere, you know, and then she I looked over down. I'm like, damn, I don't see her. So, and me and my wife was just texting at the time and stuff, you know, and I mean, you can go back and look on the phone and then I like I said, oh god. I called her right away and said, I went upstairs and looked, you know, last time she just went to my kid's bus stop, thank god. She I followed her feet tracks down the ditch and then I heard coming. So I wanted to let my wife know, you know, like, hey, the officers down there at the corner of the road. Go talk to them, you know, and >> Okay. >> and that stuff. And um yeah, she just she just ran down the gate and I was following her through tracks. If I hadn't turned around to go talk to the old lady in the driveway, then I would have I would have caught her in time. You know what I mean? The first phone contact with the father reinforced his evasive profile. He claimed to have lost his phone in a ditch and refused to meet officers in person, saying that he had once been tricked into being arrested. That refusal not only delayed the investigation, but showed someone more concerned with avoiding jail than explaining why his daughter had ended up alone in the street. Minutes later, he gave his version, claiming the girl had been playing near the house when a dog ran off, and he went right after it, giving her the chance to wander away. But the timeline didn't match. The distance the child traveled and the nearly 2-hour delay in notifying the mother made it impossible to argue this was a brief oversight. For investigators, the contradiction was proof that supervision never existed in the first place and that the case fell into the same pattern of negligence seen before. >> The the dog took off. He went to catch the dog and then when he turned around, she was gone. >> Yeah. She is What happened was she went down the ditch a little bit. >> Yeah. And then through my neighbor's house, there's like they got both of them got fences. My neighbors. >> Yeah. >> So, there's like a little pathway in between the fences. I'm assuming that's where she came out at. And then the neighbor on the corner or whatever neighbor close to the corner um called called you guys. And cuz I guess I seen the white car trying to to take the people a car load of people in a white car. So, you know. >> So, so you saw you saw a car full of people. Why didn't you try to >> No, no, no. The man the man already the the man on the corner or whatever already had on him, sir. That's what I'm trying to You know what I mean? He he said these I guess these people were trying to take her. That's that's just the rumor on the streets and that's what the old lady said. A car lo people. >> Okay. No, no, but Okay. But no, no, only tell me what you saw, not what you heard. So, did you didn't see any of that? That's just what you were told by someone else, correct? >> Yeah. Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Um, which way did your dog take off when you were trying to catch your dog? Where'd your dog go again? >> Well, he goes to my neighbor's house directly like right behind me. Um, his name's >> But opposite opposite of the ditch bank cuz he would have saw direction. >> Right. Right. So, all I did was step out in front of my driveway. I walked out the ditch to the dirt road. >> Okay. and Costa was already running around the corner like headed back south on the dirt road headed south again, you know? So >> yeah, >> I already know where he was going. So I turn around and like 3 minutes. It wasn't even that. You know what I mean? >> So let me ask you this. Why didn't you call 911? >> Sir, I I don't have a phone. >> I mean, I do have a phone. I do have a phone. Yeah, I did. >> Well, at the time you had a phone cuz you were talking to to your wife. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I didn't mean I'm so used to not having one. I literally just called it like 4 days ago. >> Yeah. >> But um yeah, so I I didn't feel the need to call 911 because she didn't go far normally, you know. >> Well, how did you know you're located? >> I seen the officer or Brandy. She went around the block and then she came back and then we both was in the middle of a dirt road. I was on a bike and she was in a car and I seen the officer down there uh talking to the neighbor and then my wife went down there, you know. >> Okay. >> Talk. >> But you see how it looks though when you it does you take off. You never called the police about it. You didn't you didn't come out to say, "Hey, listen. I stepped away for a minute. She disappeared. Instead, you you left your phone in the ditch and then you took off." >> No, I didn't I didn't leave it in the ditch. It was I must have fell out of my pocket or something. But then Brand see I get nervous when she said well they said I said I called her my wife off her phone and she said I said is is everything okay? She said well nope not everything's okay. You got to warn out for your arrest and blah blah blah. That shuts me down, man. I go into hiding when that happens. I you know I don't I I I've been in locked up most of my life. So I don't I don't want to go back and I'm not trying to go back. On May the 12th of 2025, after a week on the run, deputies located Cody William Goble in a parking lot in Vero Beach. Body cam footage captured him barricading himself in an office, refusing to come out and cursing at officers until the door was forced open. During the arrest, deputies would seize 6.19 g of me and paraphernelia, expanding the case from child to include charges and resistance to law enforcement. The three children would be placed safely with relatives while Goal was booked into the county jail. His bond was set at $17,000, reflecting both the seriousness of the charges and his history as a repeat offender. He now faces counts of child possession, possession of paraphernalia, and resisting without violence. Beyond the courtroom, the case reignited debate about the effectiveness of child protection systems. Only months earlier, a state investigation had been closed without preventing the same risks from resurfacing.