Just days after Kahleb Collins' mother was sentenced to 2 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to charges connected to the abuse of the 1-year-old.
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Exclusive: How investigators uncovered what they believe happened to Kahleb Collins
Just days after Kahleb Collins' mother was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to charges connected to the abuse of the 1-year-old, one of the lead investigators who helped uncover what is believed to have happened to Kahleb is speaking publicly for the first time.
In an exclusive interview with ABC 33/40 I-Team reporter Gracie Johnson, Fayette County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Branndon Collins reflects on an investigation that began with what appeared to be a fatal traffic crash, but within hours became a missing child investigation.
Collins said investigators first learned about Kahleb on Dec. 9 after receiving a call from Wendy Bailey's mother asking about the 1-year-old.
Investigators returned to the crash scene to determine whether Kahleb had been involved in the collision or ejected from the truck. Collins said that search turned up nothing.
Investigators then met with Kahleb's grandparents at the sheriff's office, where Collins said they learned the 1-year-old had not been seen since approximately October.
"We go from looking for a baby at a wreck scene to looking for remains in really like an hour," Collins said.
Collins said investigators immediately began gathering digital evidence, including cell phone records and social media data, while also returning to the family's property outside Winfield.
"One thing led to the next, which led us back out to the residence and that is where the search began."
Collins said one detail immediately stood out.
"The burn pile was nice and neat, it looked like it had been recently taken care of, raked clean and the house as a whole. Everything was kind of in place, nothing really out of place, but one thing we did notice immediately was the fact that Kahleb didn't have any belongings in the house," said Collins.
Collins said investigators also compared what they found inside the home with photographs recovered during the investigation.
According to Collins, the room where Kahleb and Ryleigh stayed appeared to contain only Ryleigh's belongings.
"Kahleb had been removed. And that is kind of what set us out to look further, not necessarily within the house, but let's search the property," said Collins.
Then, on May 8, 2025, investigators announced they had recovered human remains from a burn pile on the family's property that they believed were Kahleb's.
When I asked Collins whether investigators believe the burn pile was Kahleb's final resting place, he said the evidence does not allow them to make that conclusion.
"I can't say one way or the other. Based on the evidence we've got and the evidence we have and the statements we have obtained throughout this entire process, it is hard to tell."
I also asked whether investigators were ever able to scientifically identify the remains.
"What I will tell you is that it was identified as human remains by the forensic anthropologist and the fact that it was in the burn pile where evidence we had gathered led us to the burn pile, we went back and did research as far as had there been any other missing children in the area in the past 10 years? No. So, at that point, the likelihood of it being Kahleb was 99.9 percent."
Following the sentencing, Bailey's attorney, Stuart D. Albea, issued the following statement:
"Wendy accepted responsibility today because she believes that's what accountability requires. This case also cannot be understood without acknowledging the abuse she endured herself at the hands of Steven Collins — but that context doesn't erase what happened to Kahleb, and she has never suggested it should. Our thoughts are with everyone who loved this child."
For Collins, the guilty plea brought accountability after an investigation that lasted more than a year and a half.
"I think justice was served, without a doubt," he said. "There is no doubt in my mind Wendy Bailey was likely a victim of domestic violence, but that does not excuse the fact of the actions and the participation that she had during the course of this awful, evil abuse."
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