The Missouri Highway Patrol is investigating the death of a man and child whose bodies were found late Monday night in Gasconade County.
The Belle Police Department notified the patrol at 8:13 p.m. Monday of a missing 4-year-old boy from Belle who had reportedly been with a 37-year-old male family friend since Sunday morning, according to patrol reports.
At 11:30 p.m. Monday, officers located the missing man's vehicle on Valentine Ford Road near Route A in Gasconade County and eventually found the bodies of the man and boy nearby.
Autopsies will be conducted on the man and boy at University Hospital in Columbia, patrol officials said.
An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths is being conducted by investigators of the patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control, the Belle Police Department, the Osage County Sheriff's Department and the Gasconade County Sheriff's Department.