Group Renews Search For Jahi

SAN DIEGO -- A private investigator leading a renewed -- and so far unsuccessful -- effort to locate 2-year-old Jahi Turner Sunday said he felt the child's stepfather was acting "deceptively."

MISSING JAHI TURNER Light-skinned African-American 30 pounds, 30 inches tall Black hair Wearing blue "Winnie the Pooh" T-shirt, blue pants, and gray tennis shoes INFORMATION SDPD Juvenile Hotline: (619) 744-9521 Tip Hotline: (619) 235-8477 Friends of Jahi Recovery Centre: (619) 266-3677 Download A Missing Flyer SOUND OFF Share Your Thoughts

"We had information Tieray (Jones, Jahi's stepfather) was in the area acting crazy around the time Jahi disappeared," said Bill Garcia, the San Diego private investigator who organized the latest search effort on behalf of Jahi's biological father and maternal grandmother. "It was fairly close to the Jones' house as well as the (U.S.) Naval (amphibious) base. I feel he is acting deceptively."

Attempts to reach Jones for comment were unsuccessful.

Earlier, Jones told authorities Jahi disappeared after he left the boy for 15 minutes at a playground at 28th and Cedar streets about a mile from their Golden Hill apartment to get a soft drink.

Jones reported Jahi missing on April 25, four days after he and the boy's mother, Tameka Jones, 19, moved to the area from Maryland. She had been at sea four days on the amphibious transport Rushmore when the boy was reported missing.

Police have only said the basic facts are that Jones said he was at the park, left Jahi for a few minutes and that the boy was gone when he returned.

Hundreds of volunteers in April and May looked for Jahi after he disappeared, while San Diego police scoured a nearby city garbage dump for clues.

Critics of the search efforts said Jahi did not get as much attention as the case of Danielle van Dam, another San Diego child who went missing, because Jahi was African-American.

Saturday, Garcia organized another search near a shopping mall, where volunteers combed a thickly vegetated area near the Sweetwater River channel. They found nothing, but Garcia said they would return.

"We had a pretty lengthy search Saturday with 17 volunteers in a very thick area off Plaza Bonita Road," Garcia said.

"We took photographs and kept an eye on the area," Garcia continued. "The volunteers are exhausted. We spent the day today assessing what we had. It was a tough area like in Vietnam where we had to literally cut through the area."

Garcia said volunteers would continue searching the area around the Sweetwater River channel south of Plaza Bonita Mall at a later date.

Those wishing to help were asked to call (619) 544-9508 for more information.