CLOTHING MATCHES MISSING TEEN’S OUTFIT AS RE-MAINS ARE RECOVERED — DNA TESTS COULD REVEAL THE TRUTH 😢
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – After an extensive six-week search combing through a landfill, police say they’ve recovered remains they believe are 15-year-old Ja’Derrius Minnieweather.
DNA testing will be conducted to verify the remains formally, but police say the clothing found matches what the teenager was reportedly wearing when he disappeared.
“But what we found today was very evident that it’s a very strong possibility that these are human remains, and my personal belief that they belong to Ja’Derrius,” Police Chief T.J. Morse said.
Tuesday’s discovery came after six weeks of searching the landfill. Chief TJ Morse said crews processed nearly 4,000 tons of material across 27 working cells, totaling 17,493 man-hours and 821 search shifts.
“Someone told me that the success rate of finding someone in a landfill is 12 percent or less nationally. They didn’t count Baton Rouge, they didn’t count these people up here and all their agencies from Baton Rouge, they didn’t count that,” said Mayor-President Sid Edwards. “Odds can be stacked all they want, but in this city we’re going to attack those odds and we’re going to win.”
Edwards said eight or nine people suffered heat-related injuries during the search and required medical attention.
Timeline of events
A press conference was held on Tuesday, August 18, where Police Chief T.J. Morse gave a timeline of events leading to this moment.
Minnieweather was reported missing by his family on June 5.
On June 20, police arrested Maurice Parms for first-degree murder and announced the teen was presumed dead.
On June 22, evidence led investigators to believe Parms put Minnieweather’s body in a trash can that was sent to the landfill. At 10:32 a.m. that day, investigators used GPS tracking on equipment to narrow down the portion of the landfill that required searching.
On July 13, recovery efforts began after weeks following a planning period.
Investigators have a video from the back of a garbage truck that shows the teen’s body being dumped at the landfill.
Investigators started by working to narrow down the 400-acre landfill to a smaller search area. The search area has since been narrowed to just over half an acre, in large part because of that video. Getting to that point took multiple agencies, including the National Guard, several weeks to establish.
Chief Morse said the suspected human remains were found Tuesday morning in a new section of the landfill that crews had not previously searched.
“Leading up to today – what we found was very obvious to make us believe that its suspected human remains,” Morse said.
The evidence has been turned over to the coroner’s office, and the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab will conduct DNA testing. Morse said results could take anywhere from one to several days.
Morse, who has three children including a 15-year-old son, said he could not imagine telling Ja’Derrius’ mother that investigators were ending the search without finding him.
“I couldn’t imagine a day where I had to go to Ms. Aquarius and say ‘we haven’t found him, and were not gonna look anymore,’ that was kind of unimaginable to try to have that conversation so we kept pushing and I’m very thankful for everyone that pitched in to make this dig happen,” Morse said.
Edwards thanked every agency that helped with the search. “This son of Baton Rouge is going to be brought home,” Edwards said.
Search at landfill
Searchers in full personal protective equipment went through debris by hand, sifting through glass, needles and other trash, examining every item. FBI New Orleans Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp said the material emits toxic fumes and presents other hazards as it decomposes.
Three search teams, each made up of about 15 searchers, worked alongside roughly 30 additional people dedicated to logistics, medical care, decontamination and transportation.
As of August 14, search teams had excavated 4,265 cubic yards of landfill material and processed 3,590 tons of waste. Last week, average daily productivity increased from approximately 150 tons per day to an average of 221 tons per day.
Since the search began about six weeks ago, searchers have found 4,160 bones in more than 4,000 tons of material processed. Experts examined them and found that none were human remains.
Anthropologists with LSU’s FACES Lab were on site throughout the search, examining what crews recovered.
The United Cajun Navy (UCN) was also a part of that search.
“We had over 100 volunteers, 52 miles we walked on my personal boots, close to 300 garbage cans, 93 dumpsters, three empty apartment complexes and over 5,000 acres that we searched,” said Josh Gill, incident commander for the UCN. “Again, part of that was at the landfill as well.”
The search will continue through at least Friday, August 21. Morse said crews will return to the landfill looking for additional remains and any other evidence that could aid prosecutors in the case against Parms.
“The biggest part of all this is saying that young man’s name: Ja’Derrius Minnieweather. He needs to be in all of our minds and our hearts,” Gill said.
Suspect already in custody
A man connected to the teen’s death is already behind bars.
Maurice Parms, 51, is accused of beating the teen to death during a disagreement with Parms over how Parms was acting toward a 16-year-old girl, who was a longtime friend of Minnieweather.
Investigators say Parms then stashed the teen’s body and disposed of evidence before transporting the remains for disposal.
Parms is facing a first-degree murder charge.
This remains an active search and ongoing investigation.
