Police: Man and child found dead in Gainesville during search for missing Oklahoma pair

Gainesville police searching for a father and son reported missing from Norman, Oklahoma, discovered a man and child dead on Oct. 14, 2026, the department said. Its announcement did not confirm that the bodies were those of the missing pair, saying the medical examiner would establish their identities. Gainesville Police Department

The department reported that Texas Rangers were assisting with the investigation. The release did not give a cause of death. Police release

The missing father was Caleb Furley, 25, and the child was his son, Andres Harry Furley, 4, according to Oklahoma’s Oct. 13 Endangered Missing Advisory. Oklahoma Department of Public Safety

By the following day, Oklahoma Highway Patrol had activated an AMBER Alert at Norman police’s request. That notice said Furley had failed to bring Andres to an exchange with the child’s mother and was wanted on a parental-kidnapping warrant. The warrant described in the alert was an accusation, not a finding of guilt. Official AMBER Alert

Oklahoma’s earlier advisory traced the last reported sighting of Andres to Norman around 7 p.m. Oct. 11, when he was with his father. Norman police received the missing-person report Oct. 12, according to that notice. Missing-person advisory

Gainesville police also received a report Oct. 12 from a caller who considered an encounter with a man and child suspicious. An officer searched with assistance from a drone, but the search did not locate them, the department said.

Surveillance footage supplied the basis for a renewed search Oct. 14. Police said an investigator found the bodies while searching the surrounding area. Gainesville police account

Oklahoma’s AMBER Alert rules call for a reasonable belief that an abduction has occurred and that the child faces imminent serious injury or death. Authorities must have enough descriptive information to aid a search. The guidelines cover children younger than 18 and require identifying information to be entered into the National Crime Information Center. Oklahoma alert guidelines

Texas has a separate option for local activation when statewide AMBER criteria have not been verified but the local police chief believes an alert is warranted, according to Texas DPS. Lawmakers authorized that option in 2023 in honor of Athena Strand, who was kidnapped and murdered in Wise County the previous year. Texas Department of Public Safety

Anyone with information about the Gainesville investigation was asked to contact police at 940-668-7777. Department contact request

_Editor's note: Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law._