The 4-year-old was reported missing on the morning of New Year’s Eve

The body of a missing child has been found miles from his Alabama home, with his beloved dog not far away.

In a press conference on Friday, Jan. 2, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith confirmed the death of 4-year-old Johnathan Everett Boley, reports WVTM-13. The child disappeared from the home of his father, Jameson Kyle Boley, with his dog on the morning of New Year’s Eve near a rural highway in Jasper, Ala.

“I’m here to announce that we have located Johnathan, and Johnathan is deceased,” Smith told reporters.

Jonathan was last seen on Wednesday, Dec. 31, with the family’s black Labrador retriever named Buck and his 6-year-old brother near the 7000 block of Highway 195 in Jasper around 11:30 a.m. local time, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency previously said in an alert.

The siblings were visiting as part of their allotted five days of visitation for the year, Smith previously said, according to NBC News.

On Friday, Smith said authorities believed Johnathan wandered away from his home while following Buck.

“John-John and Buck being together, if he’s following Buck, then there’s no telling how far they could have traveled,” Smith said, referring to Jonathan. “Like I said, if you just look at stories across the state and the nation where children wonder off, especially with a companion, you know, canines they wonder off two, three miles, four miles.”

“Him and his brother are very adventurous,” Smith said, per USA Today. “I guess the best way to describe them is just boys being boys. They’re just outdoor kids.”

Johnathan’s body was found about 2 miles from his father’s home.

Buck was found alive near the 4-year-old’s body. WVTM-13 did not provide an update on Johnathan’s older brother.

PEOPLE could not immediately reach the Walker County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

On Thursday, King told WBRC that Jameson was taken into custody on an explosives-related charge. Smith told reporters the charge had “nothing to do” with the search for Jonathan, per NBC News.

The father was charged with unlawful manufacturing of a destructive device and two counts of chemical endangerment of a child, according to court documents filed Friday in Walker County.

There were no live explosives found outside the property, but Smith told WBRC there was “evidence that they have had some type of bomb type materials and that have exploded in the [SIC] on the property.”

Jameson served in the U.S. Army from March 2003 until November 2006, WVTM-13 reported. A reason for his discharge was not made public. The news station reported that the sheriff said Jameson has been cooperating with them.

A cause of death for Jonathan has not yet been determined.