‘I can’t find my baby.’ 5-month-old baby among 11 dead in Bremen, Ky., tornado

After a tornado hit Andrew Oglesby’s Muhlenberg County home last weekend, his wife Charity was trapped and he couldn’t find his five-month-old son Chase.

Days later Oglesby’s broken bones and deep bruises are nothing, he said, compared to the emotional pain he is in. Chase was one of 11 people in the small community of Bremen who died, Muhlenberg County Coroner Larry Vincent told the Herald-Leader Tuesday.

Andrew and Charity Oglesby are still hospitalized. Andrew has a broken neck, Charity remained on a ventilator Tuesday, according to a social media post from her husband.

After the storm hit, Andrew Oglesby called his sister Stephanie and her fiancee, telling them “my house is gone. I can’t find my baby. Charity is trapped,” according to a report from NBC News.

Robert “Bobby” Pierce, 72, Chase’s great-grandfather, told the Washington Post that the tornado tossed his grandson’s trailer into a tree.

“They were in the dark and in the rain, and they can’t see, running around trying to find him,” Robert Pierce Jr., Bobby Pierce’s son told the Post about the baby. “It was every kind of horror that you can imagine.”

Andrew Oglesby on Facebook has thanked people for their prayers, donations and kindnesses : “I don’t care that I’ve lost every single material item, but losing my son is something I never ever ever thought I’d be having to deal with at just 5 months old. The pain of my broken neck and all the other broken bones and deep bruises don’t touch the hurt I’m feeling with losing Chase. He was the best son any dad could ask for,” he posted Saturday.

On Tuesday, before heading into an afternoon surgery, Oglesby posted, “I have a broken jaw bone and will have to have my mouth wired shut for at least 6 weeks and will be on a liquid only diet. Waiting to hear something new from the doctors for Charity. She has a feeding tube and still on the ventilator for now. Hopefully she’ll be able to get off those soon.”

Bremen Mayor Allen Miller said in an interview with the Herald-Leader Tuesday that he knew Chase’s family and is close with the grandparents.

“It’s horrible,” Miller said. He said he’s been left “completely numb” by deaths like Chase’s and he’s had to try to carry on despite the grief.

“In a community like this, that’s what we’re here for is to help each other,” he said. “You’ve just got to lay it aside and push forward. It’s not easy.”

Herald-Leader staff writer Beth Musgrave contributed to this article.