Police Find Body In Search For Missing Child

Ellis County (CBSDFW.COM) - While Dallas police were searching for the body of 10-year-old Jonathan Ramsey they discovered remains Saturday, possibly belonging to a child.

Child abuse investigators returned to the same wooded area in Ellis County outside the town of Ennis, where they searched unsuccessfully three weeks ago.

They had called off the search then, claiming the terrain was too rough and too wet.

This time, Ellis County officials were on site, draining a creek that runs through the woods.

Seven hours into their search, Dallas police say they made a discovery in the creek bed.

"All I can say is we have found some remains – and by remains I mean something like bones. But
I can't definitely say it's Jonathan Ramsey," said Sgt. Brenda Nichols.

According to police reports, the boy's father and step-mother, Aaron and Elizabeth Ramsey confessed last month they allowed their son to starve to death in a locked bedroom at their Dallas home last August.

Police began investigating in March, after getting a phone call from the boy's grandfather, Edward Ramsey, who was concerned he hadn't seen Jonathan in more than a year.

In an interview with CBS11 on April 2, Edward Ramsey said, his son always had an excuse for why Jonathan was unavailable.

"In our eyes, he wasn't missing because there were excuses," Ramsey said. "It was hard but you don't want to put too much pressure."

Police say Aaron Ramsey lead them to the area in Ennis County, where he claimed to have left his son's body in a sleeping bag.

Sgt. Nichols confirmed officers did find a sleeping bag near the remains they uncovered. "This child was horribly murdered. If this is in fact Jonathan's body, he was discarded, brutally discarded," she said.

Police say an anthropologist on site appeared confident the bones discovered are human bones.

The FBI sent a physical evidence recovery unit to retrieve the remains.

Now waiting for the medical examiner to positively identify them found through DNA testing, investigators say they are hopeful.

"We have a tremendous amount of hope – that possibly we can put this child to rest. Because this child has not been at rest, we have not been at rest. This has been extremely emotional for everyone involved – the family and all the officers involved in this investigation," said Sgt. Nichols.