The disappearance moved from a welfare concern to an AMBER Alert before the father and child were located in Gainesville, Texas.
NORMAN, Okla. — The search for a missing 4-year-old boy and his father grew from a welfare concern into an AMBER Alert and interstate investigation before authorities reported Wednesday that both had been found dead in Gainesville, Texas.
The case began after Norman police were contacted Monday about Caleb Furley, 25, and his son, Andres “Harry” Furley. Police determined during an initial review that Andres had last been seen with his father at about 7 p.m. Sunday. Oklahoma authorities first issued an Endangered Missing Advisory as officers searched for the pair and expressed concern about their welfare.
The circumstances became more urgent after authorities said Furley did not appear for an exchange of Andres with the child’s mother. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol later issued an AMBER Alert on behalf of Norman police and said a warrant had been issued for Furley for parental kidnapping. The alert also warned that Furley might have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Authorities sought information about a silver 2012 Dodge Ram quad-cab pickup with an Oklahoma license plate that was believed to be associated with Furley. As the search expanded beyond Norman, investigators developed information suggesting the father and child had traveled south into Texas and had been seen in Gainesville.
Gainesville police said a relative of the missing pair contacted officers early Wednesday and reported that the two had been seen Monday afternoon at a business on North Grand Avenue. Police had already responded to that area Monday after a suspicious contact involving an adult man and child was reported. An officer searched the area with help from a drone but did not find them.
Investigators returned to the business after learning of the connection to the Oklahoma case. Surveillance footage appeared to show the missing subjects walking away from the area, according to police. That discovery prompted another search nearby, during which an investigator found the bodies of an adult man and a child.
Norman police subsequently said both Caleb Furley and Andres had been found in Gainesville. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol canceled the AMBER Alert after announcing that Andres had been located. Gainesville police said, however, that positive identification of the bodies was pending verification by the medical examiner, reflecting a distinction between the investigative identification of the missing pair and the formal medical examiner process.
Officials had not publicly announced how the father or child died as of Thursday morning. No verified public account reviewed for the case established a cause or manner of death, and authorities had not released findings explaining what happened after the pair were seen in Gainesville. The earlier parental kidnapping warrant concerned the circumstances of the child’s disappearance and did not establish the cause of the deaths.
The Texas Rangers were asked to assist Gainesville police as investigators continued examining the case. Their work comes after agencies in Oklahoma and Texas used missing-person alerts, information from relatives, surveillance footage and searches on the ground to reconstruct the pair’s movements from Norman to Gainesville.
The investigation now centers on the unanswered circumstances surrounding the deaths and the formal findings of the medical examiner. Authorities had not announced further conclusions by Thursday morning, leaving the cause and manner of death among the central questions still unresolved.
Author note: Last updated October 15, 2026.