Infant, believed dead, still missing after landfill search
INDIANAPOLIS - Police officers searched a landfill in Indianapolis Sunday for clues in the disappearance of a missing 3-month-old girl believed to be dead.
Nearly 50 officers searched through a large amount of material at the South Side Landfill, but recovered "nothing of evidentiary value" in the case of Janna Rivera, Indianapolis police Lt. Richard Riddle said. The girl's mother reported her missing from their home on the city's northeast side Friday morning.
"We believe that somebody out there knows what happened with baby Janna," Riddle said.
However, investigators hold out little hope that the child is still alive.
"At this point, we are three days out from the baby's disappearance. Based upon that, we do not believe that baby Janna is still alive," Riddle said.
Officers also spent part of Saturday searching a trash transfer station but found nothing, Riddle said.
Statements made by the child's father have led investigators to believe the child died Friday and her body was placed in a trash container on the city's east side, Riddle said.
No arrests have been made. The father, who is the live-in boyfriend of Janna's mother, remains a person of interest in the case, and he did not cooperate during questioning, Riddle said. Janna's mother was at work when the child went missing.
"The father was the last known individual who saw the child alive," he said. "He gave a statement and he was ultimately released on Friday because we had no legal reason to continue to hold him."
Police deployed bloodhounds Friday to search for Janna in a wooded area near her home. Indianapolis Fire Department divers searched a pond.
Two other school-age children live in the home, but police said they are both safe and accounted for.
The woman, her children and boyfriend had recently moved into the two-story home, neighbors told police.
Detectives urged anyone with information on the case to call 911 or Crimestoppers at 262-TIPS.