A prosecutor in Kansas says incest charges against a man now accused of child abuse in Oklahoma were dismissed nearly two decades ago after his daughters didn’t testify against him.

Jennifer Brunetti prosecuted the 1993 case. She said Tuesday the charges were dropped after the man’s three young daughters didn’t come to court.

Investigators have been searching the man’s rural property in eastern Oklahoma since last week for the remains of a baby a different daughter says he helped deliver. The girl told authorities her father said her infant daughter was dead before burying it near a goat pen.

The man and a different wife were arrested in Arkansas last week on charges of child abuse and endangerment. They’re jailed in Oklahoma. Their nine children are in state custody.