Ex-Colts DL arrested after missing son found safe

Kalyn Kahler, ESPNJul 4, 2024, 02:14 AM ET

Former Indianapolis Colts defensive lineman Daniel Muir was arrested Wednesday along with his wife, Kristen Muir, after their 14-year-old son, who had been reported missing two weeks earlier, was found at their home in Logansport, Indiana.

The arrests were made after Indiana State Police executed a search warrant at the home. Daniel Muir faces charges of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor, and obstruction of justice, a felony. Kristen Muir faces a charge of obstruction of justice.

Bryson Muir is “safe and well” and is now in the custody of Cass County Department of Child Services, Indiana State Police Sgt. Steven Glass said.

According to the Garfield Heights, Ohio, police call summary, Bryson’s grandmother, Cheryl Wright, called police on June 16 to report that “her grandson was being abused.” Wright told Indianapolis station FOX59/CBS4 this week that she took a picture of her grandson’s injuries.

“His face was battered,” she said. “When I got him, he had a black eye and busted lip. His whole face was swollen. I can only imagine how many times he had been hit in the face for it to be like that.”

Wright said that Bryson told her that his father was responsible for the injuries. According to the call summary, Wright said she had picked up Bryson earlier and brought him to her home because he was being abused. She called police when Bryson’s mother, Kristen, arrived at her house and left with Bryson. Immediately after Wright called in the report at 7:53 a.m., police found Kristen and stopped her in her vehicle. But according to the call summary, Bryson was not inside the car.

Indiana investigators struggled to contact Daniel, 40, and Kristen, 38. FOX59 reported that on Friday, Daniel and Kristen agreed to meet with Indiana State Police and to bring Bryson, who had not been seen since leaving his grandmother’s home in Ohio. But an hour before the scheduled meeting, they backed out, which led police to issue a statewide Silver Alert, stating that Bryson could be in “extreme danger and may require medical assistance.”

Glass told reporters that officers found Bryson and his parents immediately after executing the 6 a.m. search warrant on Wednesday. Glass said the operation was “peaceful.”

FOX59 reported that the operation included three SWAT teams, detectives, K-9 units and a bomb squad and that they were prepared to search multiple buildings at the property.

“With anything of this nature, we have to be well prepared, to go into the unknown,” Glass told reporters. “Ultimately, everything went well and everybody is safe, including Bryson.”

The property at 1740 W. U.S. Highway 24 is named “Straitway Goshen” because it is one of around a dozen satellites of the extreme religious movement Straitway Truth Ministry, a Hebrew Israelite group led by Charles Dowell out of Lafayette, Tennessee. Straitway Truth Ministry encourages members to live together in isolated communities.

In March 2020, Daniel Muir bought the 59 acres of Logansport land and a house on the property for $450,000. The property is now under the ownership of “Servant Leaders Foundation,” and he goes by the title “Pastor.” He is listed on Straitway’s website as the contact and leader of Straitway’s Indiana location. There are multiple buildings on the Logansport land, and Muir regularly posts YouTube updates about construction of new buildings on the property.

In a 2020 interview with Sports Illustrated, Muir said his wife and children lived with him on the property but would not say whether other families who attend services at Straitway Goshen also live there, including their most notable member, five-time Pro Bowler and Colts Ring of Honor inductee Robert Mathis. Mathis confirmed his involvement in Straitway in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2020, and his personal Facebook account shows multiple photos of him with Muir and the Indiana community families.

Indiana State Police said that other people at the property were detained and questioned on Wednesday but did not specify them by name. Daniel and Kristen Muir were the only two arrested.

Daniel Muir played defensive tackle for Indianapolis from 2008 to 2011.