By Holly Yan and Susannah Cullinane, CNN

(CNN) -- What started as a search for a 3-year-old Georgia boy led to a horrid discovery 1,400 miles away.

There, in the remote New Mexico community of Amalia, 11 skeletal children lived in squalor. Three women believed to be their mothers were also found in the makeshift compound.

And two men, including the missing boy's father, were found armed to the hilt with a cache of weapons and ammo, the Taos County Sheriff's Office said.

But the missing boy from Georgia, Abdul Ghani Wahhaj, was nowhere to be found. On Monday, the boy's fourth birthday, investigators were scrambling to find him -- and to understand what happened at the New Mexico compound.

Missing for 8 months

The search for young Abdul started back in December, when his mother reported him missing from Clayton County, Georgia, CNN affiliate WGCL-TV reported. The mother said she last saw her son as he left to go to the park with his father, Siraj Wahhaj.

But they never returned.

Wahhaj and his son were last seen together December 13 after the vehicle they were in was involved in an accident in Alabama, WGCL-TV reported.

The vehicle was also carrying five other children and two other adults -- including Lucas Morten, to whom the vehicle was registered.

Morten, just like Wahhaj, would eventually be accused of child abuse at the New Mexico compound.

But at the time, Alabama police didn't hold the group after the traffic accident. The group told police they were headed to New Mexico to go camping, and continued on their way.

And because there were no custody issues with the father, no charges had been filed against Wahhaj, WGCL said.

'We are starving and need food and water'

What happened between that car accident in December and Friday's atrocious discovery remains a mystery.

But a tip forwarded to a Georgia detective last week set off a series of events that led to a raid at the New Mexico compound.

The message, apparently sent from someone at the compound, contained a desperate plea: "We are starving and need food and water."

So on Friday, the Taos County Sheriff's Office and state authorities executed a search warrant on the compound.

There they found 11 emaciated children ranging in age from 1 to 15, along with three women believed to be their mothers -- Hujrah Wahhaj, 38; Subhannah Wahhaj, 35; and Jany Leveille, 35. Those three women were eventually arrested, each facing 11 counts of child abuse "related to the neglect and abuse of the children involved," the authorities said.

But the most dangerous encounter came when authorities tried to arrest the two men at the compound -- Morten and Wahhaj.

Both men initially refused to follow verbal orders, and Wahhaj was "heavily armed with an AR15 rifle, five loaded 30 round magazines, and four loaded pistols, including one in his pocket when he was taken down," the sheriff's office said.

"Many more rounds of ammo were found in the makeshift compound that consists of a small travel trailer buried in the ground covered by plastic with no water, plumbing, or electricity."

The two men were also arrested, each facing 11 counts of child abuse. Siraj Wahhaj also had a warrant related to the his missing son, and Morten was charged with harboring a fugitive.

'Saddest living conditions'

Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said officers found deplorable living conditions for the children.

"The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer," Hogrefe said.

He said the children looked like "third-world country refugees" with no food, no fresh water, no shoes, "and basically dirty rags" for clothing.

"We all gave the kids our water and what snacks we had -- it was the saddest living conditions and poverty I have seen," Hogrefe said.

The children were taken into protective custody and later turned over to the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department.

But of the 11 children found, Abdul Ghani Wahhaj -- the missing boy from Georgia -- was not among them.

So while his father sits in custody accused of abusing 11 other children, the search for Abdul continues.