The grandmother of the missing son of former Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Daniel Muir is speaking out over the 14-year-old’s disappearance, the alleged abuse he’s suffered at the hands of his father, and the religious group she believes ‘brainwashed’ the teenager.
‘His face was battered,’ Cheryl Wright, grandmother of missing Bryson Muir and mother-in-law to Daniel Muir, 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.’
On Friday, Indiana police issued a Silver Alert for Bryson, who is believed to be in extreme danger amid allegations of abuse against the parents. The teenager was last seen leaving his grandmother’s home in Ohio on June 16, according to Indiana State Police, who’ve described parents Daniel and Kristen are uncooperative after reneging on an agreement to bring their son to meet with ISP investigators last week.
‘The agreement was to meet at 12:00 p.m. At approximately 11:00 a.m., the Muirs backed out of that arrangement which signaled an unwillingness to cooperate,’ read a police statement.
Wright tipped off police about the alleged abuse after seeing her grandson’s bruised face, but when his mother Kristen came to pick up Bryson, the younger Muir fled the home and hopped into his mom’s white 2015 Chevrolet Suburban.
Bryson Muir (pictured with a black eye) is missing and believed to be in extreme danger
Bryson is the son of 40-year-old former Indianapolis Colts nose tackle Daniel Muir (pictured)
‘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.
‘It was minutes, it wasn’t a very long period of time whatsoever,’ Indiana State Police Captain Ron Galaviz said last week, as quoted by Indianapolis’ Fox 59. ‘But in that period of time, Bryson wasn’t able to be found. We don’t know where he went.’
Wright Is concerned about the Muirs’ connection to the Servant Leader Foundation – an organization that is listed as the owner of Muir’s home and the Chevy Suburban.
Furthermore, Wright says she told police that she believes Daniel gave Bryson his black eye.
Bryson, she said, refused to talk about the injury 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.’
Bryson, 14, is described as a 6-foot-2, 185-pound black male with black hair and brown eyes
Ex-Colts nose tackle Daniel Muir has worked as a pastor at Straitway Truth Ministries in Indiana
The 40-year-old Daniel is a Washington DC native who played at Kent State before going undrafted in 2007. Ultimately he 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 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.
Police urge anyone with information to call the Peru Post at 1-800-382-0689.
