Riverside County Grand Jury Indicts Noah McIntosh's Father For His 2019 Murder

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — A grand jury has indicted the father of 9-year-old Noah McIntosh for the boy's 2019 murder.

32-year-old Bryce McIntosh was in court Friday. (credit: CBS)

The indictment unsealed Friday charges Bryce McIntosh with one count of murder with a special circumstance allegation of torture and one count of willful child cruelty. The special circumstance allegation makes McIntosh eligible for the death penalty. District Attorney Mike Hestrin will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later date.

McIntosh was first charged in the boy's murder in March of 2019. But delays in the case prompted prosecutors to present the charges to a Riverside County criminal grand jury, which indicted McIntosh on Nov. 19, binding him over for trial.

An undated photo of 8-year-old Noah McIntosh, who was reported missing on March 12, 2019. (Corona Police Department)

Noah McIntosh had been missing for several days when his mother called police to check on him at Bryce McIntosh's Corona apartment in March of 2019. The investigation into Noah's disappearance revealed Bryce McIntosh had been abusing the boy, handcuffing him and holding him in hot and cold water for hours at a time, according to the Riverside County District Attorney.

McIntosh's cell phone was determined to have been in an area of Aguanga, where authorities found a paper with the words "Noah M" on it, a trash can, latex gloves, empty bottles of drain cleaner, and a plastic trash bag with residue inside consistent with blood, prosecutors said, and human remains detection canines alerted to the inside of the trash can and the plastic bag.

Prosecutors say McIntosh's apartment was searched with the help of a plumbing service, who told authorities that the "trap" in the bathtub plumbing was cleaner than normal, given the age of the building.

McIntosh will make his next court appearance for a trial readiness conference on Feb. 18, 2021.