Dad Finds Out Missing Son Is Alive, On Live TV

After days of searching for a missing boy in Detroit, the unimaginable happened: Charlie Bothuell found out his 12-year-old son was alive — during a Nancy Grace interview. The boy had disappeared less than two weeks ago on Father's Day, but was found unharmed on Wednesday — news that, delivered in Grace's less-than-dulcet tones, came as quite a shock to Bothuell.

Right at the beginning of Wednesday's live interview, Grace tells Bothuell brusquely: "Charlie, we are getting reports that your son has been found... in your basement." As Bothuell takes a moment to, you know, process the momentous information, Grace raises her eyebrows in obvious impatience, saying: "Sir?" With the expression of someone whose manicurist is taking too long to file her nails, she adds: "Mr.Bothuell? Are you.. ?"

Bothuell, for his part, continues breathing deeply and clutching his chest, repeating "What?" — and Grace decides that this is the moment to turn the interview into an interrogation. "How could your son be alive in your basement?" she asks him accusingly. "I don't know why you guys would have reported him missing. All our viewers have been on the lookout for him."

But Bothuell, who was clearly still in shock, had no answers for Grace. "We checked the basement," he repeatedly tells her. "The FBI checked my basement. The police checked my basement. My wife checked my basement.” In fact, it's still unclear how the son hid himself in the basement, or even if he'd been there the whole time. Police found him having made a fortress of sorts out of boxes and a drum, apparently unharmed.

Said Detroit Police Chief James Craig to WXYZ:

I've never seen anything quite like this. We found him barricaded in the basement, behind boxes and a large five-gallon drum. There's no way he could have erected this makeshift area of concealment. It would be hard for me to sit here and tell you that someone didn’t know Charlie was there, but I can’t say definitively.

The boy’s disappearance on June 14 stirred up a social media campaign with the hashtag #FindCharlie — predictably, after Wednesday's interview, the hashtag morphed into accusations central, with many users apparently inspired by Grace's aggressive finger-pointing.

Oh, well. In the meantime, we wish the Bothuells a joyous reunion.