Investigators moved between two homes after rejecting a babysitter’s account, eventually finding Grayson Walton dead and making two arrests.
CENTRAL CITY, Ky. — The criminal case over the death of 11-month-old Grayson Walton was built through a sequence of interviews, disputed statements and search warrants that carried investigators from one Central City residence to a second home in nearby Cleaton, where police found the missing child dead.
The evidence disclosed so far tells only part of the story. Police say Elijah Drew Mayes, 19, was caring for Grayson while the child’s father worked. They allege Mayes gave them an account of the baby being picked up by someone else, created electronic messages intended to support that story and later faced murder and evidence-related charges after investigators found Grayson. But authorities have not publicly supplied a complete medical explanation for the child’s death or disclosed all of the forensic evidence they may possess. Those gaps remain important as the prosecution moves beyond its preliminary phase.
The first step came at about 5:10 p.m. Sept. 12, when officers responded to the 800 block of Harrison Avenue after a reported disturbance. Grayson’s father said the baby was supposed to be with Mayes while he was at work. According to police, Mayes told officers that a family friend had picked up the child around 10 p.m. on the previous night. Rather than accepting that statement, investigators located the person Mayes identified. She denied taking Grayson, eliminating the explanation Mayes had offered and giving police reason to continue searching for the child.
Investigators later alleged that the pickup story was supported by fabricated electronic communications. A criminal citation reported on by local media says police believe Mayes created a false number and sent messages to himself while pretending to be the family friend. Authorities described the messages as an effort to make the claimed transfer of the child appear real. Whether prosecutors can establish who created or controlled those communications will be an evidentiary question for court. For now, the messages remain part of the state’s allegations and have not been tested before a trial jury.
A separate witness account redirected attention toward Cleaton. One of Grayson’s relatives told investigators the child had last been seen with Mayes at a home in the 300 block of Hillview Street. Police did not immediately search that property. They first obtained a warrant for the Harrison Avenue home and a vehicle associated with it. During that search, authorities said they found a shard of suspected methamphetamine in a dresser drawer in a bedroom linked to Mayes. That evidence produced a drug allegation but still did not answer where the infant was.
Police then sought a second search warrant, this time covering the Hillview Street residence and a vehicle there. Investigators found Grayson dead inside the house. Later court-document reporting said officers located his body inside a couch. The same citation described bruising and marks on the child’s stomach that investigators believed resembled teeth impressions. Those descriptions are disturbing, but they are presented in the public record as police observations. The sources reviewed do not contain a final publicly released medical determination establishing exactly how Grayson died.
The discovery changed the focus of the investigation from finding a missing child to determining responsibility for his death and for what happened afterward. Mayes was arrested and ultimately faced five publicly reported charges: murder, first-degree criminal abuse, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and first-degree possession of a controlled substance involving methamphetamine. He pleaded not guilty. Court reporting placed him under a $1 million cash-only bond during the early phase of the case. None of the charges constitutes proof of guilt.
Investigators then arrested another person connected to the Hillview Street property. Jeff Barnett, whom police identified as Grayson’s step-grandfather, was charged with tampering with physical evidence. Records cited by local stations listed the home where Grayson was found as Barnett’s address. Public reporting has not said Barnett is charged with murder or criminal abuse, and the available material does not establish that he caused Grayson’s death. His alleged role is therefore narrower than the allegations against Mayes and should not be conflated with them.
The two defendants appeared in court as the investigation continued. Mayes’ case later reached a preliminary hearing at which a judge found probable cause. Local reporting on Oct. 1 said the matter would be bound over for the next stage and could be presented to a grand jury. Circuit Court Clerk Camron Laycock described Oct. 16 as a tentative date and said the commonwealth’s attorney would determine the timing. The sources reviewed through Oct. 21 do not confirm a subsequent indictment, so the probable-cause ruling remains the latest clearly verified procedural milestone.
The distinction between evidence disclosed in an arrest citation and evidence proved in court is especially important in this case. Police reports describe an alleged false story, an alleged attempt to manufacture text-message support, drugs in a bedroom associated with Mayes and the condition of Grayson’s body when it was recovered. Those facts may help explain why officers made arrests, but a prosecution still must establish the elements of each charged offense through admissible evidence. The defense will have opportunities to challenge the state’s interpretation, witnesses and forensic findings as the case progresses.
Several basic questions have not yet been answered publicly. The reviewed sources do not give a final cause of death from a medical examiner or coroner. They do not establish a motive. They do not provide a complete hour-by-hour chronology of Grayson’s final period alive. They also do not reveal the full basis for Barnett’s evidence-tampering charge. Those unknowns prevent conclusions beyond the allegations that police and prosecutors have already placed into the public record.
Grayson’s life, meanwhile, has been documented by his family in terms far removed from the investigative file. His obituary said he was born Sept. 26, 2025, and remembered him as a cheerful child who loved water and playing with other children. He died Sept. 13, less than two weeks before he would have turned 1. His funeral was held Sept. 17 in Central City, followed by burial in Miller Cemetery. Relatives also established a memorial fund to help with funeral expenses and a headstone.
Residents later gathered at a vigil in Cleaton as the first court proceedings were unfolding. Community members told local reporters that the death had affected people across the small area, and participants called for Grayson to be remembered. The public response did not supply answers about the evidence, but it underscored the immediate consequence of a case that otherwise risks becoming defined by search warrants, citations and court dates: a family lost an infant before his first birthday.
Central City police said the investigation drew help from numerous agencies, among them Kentucky State Police, the FBI, Greenville police, emergency-management personnel, the county coroner and several fire departments. Their involvement reflects how the case expanded from an initial report about an unaccounted-for child into coordinated searches of homes and vehicles and then a criminal investigation involving two defendants.
As of Oct. 21, prosecutors have cleared the probable-cause threshold against Mayes, but the allegations remain unresolved. The next confirmed stage will depend on grand-jury and court action that has not yet been established in the reviewed public record. Until further filings or official findings are released, the evidence trail explains why police made their arrests, but it does not replace the judicial process that will determine whether the charges can ultimately be proved.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.