Parents of missing 4-year-old autistic boy charged with chemical endangerment | WDHN

Left to right: Shyanne Nicole Ray and Joshua Thad Wilkerson (Photo courtesy of Henry County Sheriff's Office)

DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — The parents of a 4-year-old autistic boy who went missing earlier this year have been indicted by a Henry County grand jury.

In April, Shyanne Nicole Ray, 25, and Joshua Thad Wilkerson, 39, were charged with two counts each of chemical endangerment of a child.

Wilkerson and Ray were arrested in early February after Henry County and state investigators said they used methamphetamine and marijuana at their home on Jan. 12, the day their son, Phenix Wilkerson, disappeared.

A complaint from the State Bureau of Investigation alleges that Wilkerson, a nonverbal autistic child, was directly exposed to the drugs and may have inhaled or ingested them.

After an extensive search throughout the Barbour County countryside, Phenix was found two days later in the woods, wearing the clothes he was last seen in, but without shoes. During Phenix's stay in the woods, temperatures fell below freezing.

Ray and Wilkerson bonded shortly after their arrests.

Nine days after their indictment, Ray pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Wilkerson pleaded not guilty in early April.