A former Indianapolis Colts player, Daniel Muir, has been arrested after his teenage son, Bryson Muir, who had been missing for two weeks, was found safe at the family’s home in Kokomo, Indiana. Bryson, 14, is now in the care of the Cass County Department of Child Services, according to Indiana State Police.
Daniel Muir, 40, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning and faces charges of domestic battery and obstruction of justice. Muir, a defensive tackle, played in the NFL for seven seasons, including four with the Colts, from 2007 to 2013. He played college football at Kent State but went undrafted in 2007 before signing as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers. Throughout his career, he recorded 99 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Muir’s wife and Bryson’s mother, 38-year-old Kristin Muir, was also arrested and charged with obstruction of justice. Bryson was last seen on June 16, leaving a relative’s home in Ohio with his mother. The two left in a car belonging to the Servant Leader’s Foundation, a religious organization that owns the property where the Muir family resided. Shortly after leaving the relative’s home, police pulled the car over, but Bryson was not inside.
Two days later, the Cass County Department of Child Services asked police to investigate allegations of domestic battery toward Bryson. Police attempted to contact his parents but were initially unsuccessful. They later agreed to bring Bryson to meet with police but then backed out of that arrangement, signaling an unwillingness to cooperate.
On Wednesday, police found Bryson. A photo released by police showed the 14-year-old with a black eye. An investigation remains ongoing, and police have asked anyone with information about the incident to call 800-382-0689.
The arrests were made after Indiana State Police executed a search warrant at the home. Daniel Muir faces charges of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor, and obstruction of justice, a felony. Kristin Muir faces a charge of obstruction of justice. Bryson is “safe and well” and is now in the custody of the Cass County Department of Child Services, Indiana State Police Sgt. Steven Glass said.
According to the Garfield Heights, Ohio, police call summary, Bryson’s grandmother, Cheryl Wright, called police on June 16 to report that “her grandson was being abused.” Wright told Indianapolis station FOX59/CBS4 this week that she took a picture of her grandson’s injuries. “His face was battered,” she said. “When I got him, he had a black eye and busted lip. His whole face was swollen. I can only imagine how many times he had been hit in the face for it to be like that.”
Wright said that Bryson told her that his father was responsible for the injuries. According to the call summary, Wright said she had picked up Bryson earlier and brought him to her home because he was being abused. She called police when Bryson’s mother, Kristin, arrived at her house and left with Bryson. Immediately after Wright called in the report at 7:53 a.m., police found Kristin and stopped her in her vehicle. But according to the call summary, Bryson was not inside the car.
Indiana investigators struggled to contact Daniel and Kristin. FOX59 reported that on Friday, Daniel and Kristin agreed to meet with Indiana State Police and to bring Bryson, who had not been seen since leaving his grandmother’s home in Ohio. But an hour before the scheduled meeting, they backed out, which led police to issue a statewide Silver Alert, stating that Bryson could be in “extreme danger and may require medical assistance.”
Glass told reporters that officers found Bryson and his parents immediately after executing the 6 a.m. search warrant on Wednesday. Glass said the operation was “peaceful.” FOX59 reported that the operation included three SWAT teams, detectives, K-9 units, and a bomb squad and that they were prepared to search multiple buildings at the property. “With anything of this nature, we have to be well prepared, to go into the unknown,” Glass told reporters. “Ultimately, everything went well and everybody is safe, including Bryson.”
The property at 1740 W. U.S. Highway 24 is named “Straitway Goshen” because it is one of around a dozen satellites of the extreme religious movement Straitway Truth Ministry, a Hebrew Israelite group led by Charles Dowell out of Lafayette, Tennessee. Straitway Truth Ministry encourages members to live together in isolated communities.
In March 2020, Daniel Muir bought the 59 acres of Logansport land and a house on the property for $450,000. The property is now under the ownership of “Servant Leaders Foundation,” and he goes by the title “Pastor.” He is listed on Straitway’s website as the contact and leader of Straitway’s Indiana location. There are multiple buildings on the Logansport land, and Muir regularly posts YouTube updates about the construction of new buildings on the property.
In a 2020 interview with Sports Illustrated, Muir said his wife and children lived with him on the property but would not say whether other families who attend services at Straitway Goshen also live there, including their most notable member, five-time Pro Bowler and Colts Ring of Honor inductee Robert Mathis. Mathis confirmed his involvement in Straitway in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2020, and his personal Facebook account shows multiple photos of him with Muir and the Indiana community families.
Indiana State Police said that other people at the property were detained and questioned on Wednesday but did not specify them by name. Daniel and Kristin Muir were the only two arrested. Daniel Muir played defensive tackle for Indianapolis from 2008 to 2011.
The missing son of former Indianapolis Colts player Daniel Muir has been found safe after two distressing weeks, while the retired NFL nose tackle has now been arrested amid abuse allegations from the boy’s grandmother. Bryson Muir, 14, was found “safe and well” at 6 a.m. on Wednesday when Indiana State Police SWAT team members raided the Muir family home in Logansport, Indiana. Both of his parents, Daniel and Kristin Muir, were taken into custody and charged with obstruction of justice – a Level 6 felony in Indiana and punishable by up to 2.5 years in jail. Furthermore, Daniel is also charged with misdemeanor battery. Bryson is now in the custody of the Cass County Department of Child Services.
While officers were able to find Bryson safely, much about his disappearance remains a mystery. Indiana State Police caution that this is still an ongoing criminal probe and anyone with any information on the case can reach out to 1-800-382-0689.
Daniel and Kristin Muir were taken into custody and charged with obstruction of justice. Bryson Muir was found “safe and well” after going missing. On Friday, Indiana police issued a Silver Alert for Bryson, who was believed to be in extreme danger amid allegations of abuse against Daniel. The teenager had last been seen leaving his grandmother’s Ohio home on June 16, according to Indiana State Police. Officers described parents Daniel and Kristin as uncooperative on Friday after they reneged on an agreement to bring their son to meet with ISP investigators.
Bryson’s grandmother, Cheryl Wright, notified police after seeing her grandson with a black eye and bruised face at her Ohio home on June 16. But when his mother Kristin came to pick up Bryson in the Cleveland suburbs, the younger Muir fled his grandmother’s home and hopped into his mom’s white 2015 Chevrolet Suburban. “His face was battered,” Wright told Indianapolis’ Fox59 of her last encounter with her grandson outside her Cleveland-area home. “When I got [Bryson] he had a black eye and busted lip. His whole face was swollen. I can only imagine how many times he had been hit in the face for it to be like that.”
As for Bryson’s willingness to return to his parents despite his injuries, Wright claimed her grandson has been “brainwashed” by the couple and their religious organization, the Servant Leader Foundation. “Bryson is so conditioned or brainwashed to their way of living that he wanted to go back,” Wright said. “As I tried to get my daughter to leave he ran out of the house and left with them.”
Ohio police pulled over the Chevy soon thereafter, but by that point, Bryson was no longer in his mother’s vehicle. “The officers believe that he had probably been switched into another car,” Wright said. Wright says she told police that she believes Daniel gave Bryson his black eye. Bryson, she said, refused to talk about the injury with her or the events that preceded it, prompting her to call local police. “I didn’t want to let him go,” said Wright. “I tried to call the police because he had been abused. It hurts me that anyone could be beaten like that. It hurts me that my daughter would allow anyone to do that to her child.”
The 40-year-old Daniel is a Washington DC native who played at Kent State before going undrafted in 2007. His wife, Kristin, also attended Kent State, according to her LinkedIn page. Ultimately Daniel signed with the Green Bay Packers before spending three seasons with the Colts and parts of the 2012 campaign with the New York Jets. Daniel has also worked as the Indianapolis chapter pastor for Straitway Truth Ministries, who describe themselves as “nation of Hebrew Israelites.” Former Packers star Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila also joined that ministry after denouncing Christianity, according to SI.com. Another former Colts player, Robert Mathis, has been linked to the organization, which has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a potential hate group over anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic ideology.
DailyMail.com’s efforts to contact the Muir family, the Servant Leader’s Foundation, and the Straitway Truth Ministries have been unsuccessful.
Source: ABC News, ESPN, Daily Mail
