UPDATE (3:29 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023): The mother of the 10-year-old found dead in Mason County has identified him.

According to Adrienne Nibert, the boy’s name is Wyatt Ray Eaves but is also known as Wyatt Nibert.

MASON COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – Authorities are investigating the death of a 10-year-old in Mason County.

According to Mason County Sheriff Corey Miller, crews from the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, Point Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department and Mason County EMS were called around 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, to an ATV accident in the Salt Creek area of Mason County off of Huntington Road, also known as Route 2.

Miller says when they arrived at the scene, first responders learned a 10-year-old had been “separated from the accident victim” approximately an hour before they were called to the area.

Crews worked together to establish a command post near the driveway of the property and organized an extensive search for the child that included multiple agencies from West Virginia and Ohio and hundreds of local volunteers.

According to Miller, members of the search team found the child’s body around 7 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. When officers and medics arrived, they found the child had “died due to a single gunshot wound.”

The West Virginia State Police Crime Scene Units and Jackson County Sheriff’s Department processed the scene. Miller says the child’s body was taken to the West Virginia State Medical Examiner’s Office for further investigation.

The investigation is ongoing, and the sheriff’s office is asking for privacy for the child’s family at this time.