Kelly O'Connell / WRBL

Published: March 19, 2008

The search for three missing Columbus children and their father has come to a tragic end.

The bodies of the three missing Columbus children, along with their father, have been found in Columbus.

The bodies of 23-month-old twins Aliyah and Agena, 3-year-old Cedric and their father, Eddie Harrington were discovered this afternoon in a wooded area off
Chatsworth Road.

The FBI and the Columbus Police Department say someone walking in the area saw the bodies and the vehicle today around lunchtime.

Police arrived on the scene, where they initially identified the bodies.

They also found Harrington’s 2002 Chevy Impala.

The coroner later confirmed those bodies belonged to those four.

“It’s my sad duty to report that the deceased bodies of these children and Eddie Harrington were located this afternoon in a wooded area off Chatsworth Road here in Columbus,” says FBI Special Agent in Charge Gerald Green.

Police will not say how long the car had been in that location or how the children and the father had died.

They will also not tell us when they died.

Later Agena Battle, the mother of the three children, spoke with News 3’s David Spunt.

Here is his account of that meeting:

“News 3 asked her is she would like to talk, but she said she was too upset to be on camera, so I respected that and gave her and her mother some privacy. She and her mother paced back and forth around the site and reflected.

“After she and her mother came back to talk to me, I asked her how she got the news today. She told me that an FBI agent came to her door early this afternoon and told her the news.

“She says she spent the entire day with her mother, who’s been a strong support system for her. I also asked her what it’s been like for her today and she says it’s been an extremely emotional day. She told me she spent the majority of ther day on the phone with people from across the country who are sharing her grief.

“I asked her about her children and she told me she knew they were in heaven.  She told me for the past two weeks, all she’s had on her mind are her children, and today has just been so difficult for her.”

For more from Agena Battle, join WRBL for News 3 Midday at 11 a.m. Central today.