Family, police just discovered Muncie boy has been missing 5 years

MUNCIE, Ind. — Investigators say the disappearance of a 9-year-old boy in Muncie is one of the most disturbing cases they’ve ever seen.

“I can’t ever remember something quite like this,” Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said. “It haunts me every day.”

The disappearance of Hayden Manis is unusual because the child has not been missing for just a few days or weeks or even months.

Hayden has been missing for more than five years.

His disappearance came to light only recently, and the mysterious case – now being reported for the first time by 13 Investigates – has shocked and baffled both police and the boy’s own family.

“Where is Hayden? That’s all we want to know,” his grandfather, Gary Manis, told 13News. “We just need to get him back.”

As family members and law enforcement desperately search for answers, they acknowledge a growing fear that the missing boy might no longer be alive.

Hayden’s grandfather and three of his aunts met with 13 Investigates to talk about Hayden and to explain how they determined he was missing.

The last time they saw Hayden was inside his great-grandmother’s Muncie home in late 2019.

“It was Christmas Eve 2019 at our family gathering,” Gary said. “I didn’t notice anything wrong.”

“He was happy. He was getting presents. He was excited,” great aunt Barbara Phillips said.

“He just ran from person to person and played and laughed,” recalled another great aunt, Shellie Sewell.

“And his father was there with him,” aunt Taylor Ferrell said. “That was the last time.”

When Hayden left his great-grandmother’s house that Christmas Eve in 2019, he was 4 1/2 years old and living in Muncie with his father, Dustin Manis. Family members describe Dustin as kind and gentle with kids.

“He was so sweet and good with children,” Shellie said about her nephew. “Never in a million years would you think he’d ever put a hand on any child, let alone his own son.”

But Dustin also had a criminal history involving drugs and alcohol, and his drug use impacted his parenting.

In fact, Hayden’s father and mother both lost custody of their baby son in 2016 after drug tests showed they had been using cocaine. That same year, police also found Hayden and his father in a motel room littered with heroin.

That’s when the Indiana Department of Child Services sent 1-year-old Hayden to live with his grandfather, Gary. The toddler called his grandfather “Paw Paw,” and they grew very close.

“I never had any trouble out of him the whole time I had him,” Gary told 13 Investigates while holding back tears. “He liked skateboarding, or at least trying to skateboard. He loved going to the park. He’s a good kid.”

But a year and a half later, after Hayden’s father served his court-ordered probation and completed drug treatment and counseling, a judge granted Dustin custody of his son and ordered Hayden be returned to his father. DCS, which had taken Hayden away from his parents following due to their drug use, did not object to Dustin’s petition to regain custody.

“He’s a drug addict. I told them, I begged them, not to give him back. Wasn’t my choice. Wouldn’t even let me speak in court,” Gary told 13News. “He did what they required of him, and they gave (Hayden) back.”

At that point, Hayden was about to turn 3. Family members say Dustin took Hayden to visit Gary, his aunts, uncles and cousins on a regular basis in 2018 and 2019.

But after a fight between Gary and Dustin, those visits got farther apart. They stopped completely after the Christmas get-together in 2019 — even though Hayden’s relatives kept trying, texting Dustin to invite him and Hayden to family gatherings.

“At least every month, I’d message him: ‘Hey, we’re doing this or that. Can you come?’” Barb said.

“We wanted him to know we wanted them there. We wanted to be a part of their lives,” Shellie said. “We’d say, ‘Can you and Hayden come have dinner with us?’ And he would respond with, ‘We’ll try. I’ll try. Everything’s fine. We’re OK. Hayden’s fine. We’ll try to make it.’ But we never did get to see him. He never came to anything.”

Family text messages reviewed by 13 Investigates show Dustin claimed he moved out of town in August 2021, telling his aunt Barb he was “Doing really good” and that he would try to attend the next family Christmas gathering.

He did not. Dustin eventually stopped responding to texts, worrying his aunts.

“I don’t care when u get this message just let me know ur ok and if we can meet so I can see u,” Barb texted her nephew in May 2023.

In his final text message to his aunt, Dustin wrote, “Hey aunt barb I promise on everything all is well I promise u (I’ve) just been having a lot going on … I’m doing good and I’m doing right and I’m working on making the family I’ve always wanted.” (sic)

The family grew accustomed to not seeing or hearing from Dustin and Hayden, believing Dustin was simply too busy or no longer wanted to visit with his family.

But that changed a few months ago, when Hayden’s two great-grandmothers had a chance encounter at a Muncie grocery store and began discussing the boy. One of the great-grandmothers said Dustin had told her several years ago that he had again lost custody of Hayden to DCS.

“She went straight home and called (Gary) and said, “Something is off, something’s not right,” Shellie explained.

“She sounded worried, like something didn’t sound right, so I went to CPS the next day,” Gary told 13News.

Another family member called police and asked them to check on Hayden.

Police found Dustin. They did not find his son. 

And the story Dustin Manis told investigators – that CPS came to his house in 2022, took custody of Hayden and returned him to his mother – did not add up.

That was five months ago. Today, Hayden is still missing.

The family’s growing suspicions quickly turned into what they now describe as a “nightmare.”

“Where’s Hayden? Nobody can come up with Hayden. The last person who was responsible for him … could not provide any information about where he was. And that’s when we realized, I think …” said Shellie, pausing to wipe away tears.

She never finished her sentence. She doesn’t have to.

Shellie and the rest of Hayden’s family now believe something terrible happened to the child, who no one has seen in more than five years.

“That’s the question we ask ourselves every day,” said Hoffman, the Delaware County prosecutor who was briefed on the boy’s disappearance several months ago.

He said investigators at the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department have been trying to locate Hayden for five months. They started by interviewing Dustin, who did not tell detectives the truth.

“Did Hayden go back into the custody of the Department of Child Services?” asked 13 Investigates.

“No. That was disproven quite easily, quite quickly,” Hoffman responded, adding that detectives also determined Hayden was not returned to his mother, as Dustin had claimed. “So at that time and as the investigation went on, we knew that was a lie.”

Investigators know what did not happen, but figuring out what did happen has been far more difficult because Hayden was missing for years before police ever learned of his disappearance.

“We think he actually went missing sometime in 2020 but, so far, we have not been able to pinpoint an actual date,” Delaware County Sheriff Chief Deputy Jeff Stanley told 13News.

“To say that that has complicated the case is an understatement,” Hoffman said. “To get the call in 2024 that you’ve not seen a child since 2020 is a huge hurdle.”

And that’s not the only challenge for detectives.

In November, after sheriff’s investigators questioned Dustin about his son’s disappearance, Muncie Police arrested Hayden’s father on more drug charges. During a traffic stop, officers found Dustin with both heroin and meth.

Dustin spent a few weeks in the Delaware County Jail before one of his grandmothers posted bond and he was released from jail. Four days later, on Dec. 15, Dustin Manis died from a drug overdose.

For investigators, it means the man at the center of their investigation into Hayden’s disappearance is now gone.

“Just because Dustin Manis is dead does not mean the investigation is dead. We’re still going forward,” the prosecutor said. He believes other people have crucial information and know what happened to Hayden.

13 Investigates has learned detectives served multiple search warrants related to the disappearance of Hayden.

Sheriff’s deputies searched a home in the town of Eaton – where Dustin periodically lived as recently as last year – and another house in Muncie where Hayden and Dustin lived along with Dustin’s former girlfriend and members of the girlfriend’s family. That home is the last place Hayden was known to be living, but several neighbors told 13 Investigates they never saw him.

“I’ve lived here since 2021, and I’m around here all day. I’ve never seen a little boy running around over there,” said Tracy Heigle, who lives across the street from the house. “If a little boy was there, I would have seen him.” 

Another neighbor told 13News he had seen two young girls – daughters of Dustin’s former girlfriend – playing outside the house, but that he had never seen a young boy.

Hoffman confirmed detectives conducted several interviews with Dustin’s former girlfriend and her father (who owned the house). They also searched the yard and removed items from inside the house when they served a search warrant in September.

Since the investigation began a few months ago, the former girlfriend and her father sold the property and moved out of state.

13News reached out to both of them. We have not yet spoken to the girlfriend, but her father told 13 Investigates he and his daughter have both cooperated with investigators and know nothing about Hayden’s disappearance.

He also said detectives took flooring from the bedroom of his house and that his family’s move was planned long before police started asking questions.

No one has been able to lead police to Hayden, and no one has been charged in his disappearance.

“How can a little boy just disappear and no one knows where he is or what happened to him? How is something like this possible?” 13 Investigates asked the prosecutor.

“There’s very few ways that it’s possible,” Hoffman responded. “An adult can disappear. They can go to a foreign country, they can go to Las Vegas on a bender for a week. Kids aren’t like that. Kids Hayden’s age don’t just go somewhere. A child can only go missing in very few ways — none of which are voluntary.”

Realizing that it’s now been years since anyone last saw Hayden and that police have not been able to locate him either, the boy’s family fears he is dead.

“It’s the hardest thing to say that, ‘No, I don’t think he’s with us anymore,’” his aunt Taylor said.

“I don’t believe he’s alive,” his great-aunt Shellie said. “I mean, the police have been working on this nonstop since September, and there’s been no sign of him.”

“I do not think he’s alive — not after talking with police, I don’t. Not after some of the rumors I’ve heard,” Gary said.

The family says since the investigation began, they’ve heard stories that Hayden was badly abused and neglected inside the Muncie home where he lived before his disappearance. 

“I just hope it’s not true what he went through,” said Taylor, crying. Hayden’s aunts described the stories they’ve heard as “disgusting” and “horrifying.”

While detectives and the prosecutor are not releasing specific details of their ongoing investigation, the prosecutor said information gathered by investigators is very disturbing.

“It’s haunting. It’s definitely haunting, some of the facts of this case,” responded Hoffman, who also told 13 Investigates he believes the missing boy is no longer alive. “Based on the evidence I’ve seen and the interviews that have been conducted, I do not have a reason to believe that.”

Despite the grim outlook, investigators are still hoping for tips and information from the public, and the prosecutor pledged the investigation will continue.

“There are very few days I come to this office and I don’t think about Hayden Manis. This case is on my mind, and it’s on the investigators’ minds on a daily basis,” Hoffman said. “We’re not going to stop until we get to an answer. We need to know the truth.”

Hayden Manis was just recently added to a national registry of missing and exploited children. He would now be nearly 10 years old.

If you have information about Hayden or his disappearance, please contact the Delaware County Sheriff’s Investigations Division at 765-747-7881.

The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement to 13 Investigates about the disappearance of Hayden Manis:

“On or about September 5, 2024, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a missing juvenile case. Since that time, we have worked diligently to investigate all leads, execute multiple search warrants, and conduct numerous interviews. 

We are working closely with the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office and remain committed to pursuing every avenue of investigation. Our goal is to bring resolution to this case. We appreciate the continued support from the community and encourage anyone with information to come forward. 

If you have any information about this case please contact the Delaware County Sheriff Investigations Division 765-747-7881.”