kong
01-12-2012, 06:32 PM
Missing Toddler Amir Jennings: Hope Fades as New Developments Revealed
When police executed a search warrant in the case of missing toddler Amir Jennings, they recovered a shovel from his mother's home and a blood-stained blanket and clothes from the back of her car, Associated Press reported today. The 18-month-old boy's grandfather had told police he'd seen the baby's mother, Zinah Jennings, with a shovel in her Columbia, S.C., yard in the time frame during which Amir disappeared.
Police are not declaring these items connected to the toddler's disappearance, saying that they could possibly be explained by Zinah Jennings' involvement in a Christmas eve auto crash. Here's a recap of key events in the Amir Jennings investigation along with the latest news on the status of the investigation:
* The last person known to have seen Amir other than his mother was his father, according to ABC News. That was on Thanksgiving. The parents do not live together.
* Amir's grandmother Jocelyn Jennings Nelson reported both the toddler and Zinah Jennings missing Dec. 8 after seeing Zinah Dec. 7 and getting no response to her questions about Amir's whereabouts.
* Jennings was allegedly involved in a hit and run Dec. 6, according to a police search warrant affidavit filed in the case. That crash put her on police radar and led to them questioning her on Dec. 24 when she was involved in another car crash, ABC News said.
* In response to police questioning, Jennings provided inconsistent information. After initially denying she had a son, police said she gave them different, false accounts of baby Amir's whereabouts placing him in different states with different friends and relatives.
* In the affidavit supporting the search warrant, a police detective noted that Jennings told him her son was with a man named Ernest Robinson, whom he determined did not exist. This information has prompted public comparisons to the Casey Anthony case in which Anthony told police she'd left her daughter Caylee in the care of a nanny named Zenaida Gonzalez, whom police found didn't exist.
* Jennings' leading police to an apartment building where she said she left Amir but then was unable to identify a specific apartment led to further comparisons with the Anthony case. Like Jennings, Anthony led police on a wild goose chase as she brought them to Universal Studios where she claimed to work and gave them fictitious information about people involved in case, including the supposed residence of the non-existent nanny.
* In one police interview, when police investigator Colin Bailey told Jennings she would be going to jail, she replied, "That's the place I need to be," WIS TV reported.
* Police arrested Jennings and charged her with unlawful conduct toward a child, Associated Press said. She is being held on $150,000 bond.
* Police Chief Randy Scott said Monday Jennings is being more cooperative than she was previously. Jennings reportedly told police she last saw Amir Nov. 29 in her home. But she has stopped short of telling them where Amir is, WLTX reported, instead saying he disappeared and it was up to police to find him.
When police executed a search warrant in the case of missing toddler Amir Jennings, they recovered a shovel from his mother's home and a blood-stained blanket and clothes from the back of her car, Associated Press reported today. The 18-month-old boy's grandfather had told police he'd seen the baby's mother, Zinah Jennings, with a shovel in her Columbia, S.C., yard in the time frame during which Amir disappeared.
Police are not declaring these items connected to the toddler's disappearance, saying that they could possibly be explained by Zinah Jennings' involvement in a Christmas eve auto crash. Here's a recap of key events in the Amir Jennings investigation along with the latest news on the status of the investigation:
* The last person known to have seen Amir other than his mother was his father, according to ABC News. That was on Thanksgiving. The parents do not live together.
* Amir's grandmother Jocelyn Jennings Nelson reported both the toddler and Zinah Jennings missing Dec. 8 after seeing Zinah Dec. 7 and getting no response to her questions about Amir's whereabouts.
* Jennings was allegedly involved in a hit and run Dec. 6, according to a police search warrant affidavit filed in the case. That crash put her on police radar and led to them questioning her on Dec. 24 when she was involved in another car crash, ABC News said.
* In response to police questioning, Jennings provided inconsistent information. After initially denying she had a son, police said she gave them different, false accounts of baby Amir's whereabouts placing him in different states with different friends and relatives.
* In the affidavit supporting the search warrant, a police detective noted that Jennings told him her son was with a man named Ernest Robinson, whom he determined did not exist. This information has prompted public comparisons to the Casey Anthony case in which Anthony told police she'd left her daughter Caylee in the care of a nanny named Zenaida Gonzalez, whom police found didn't exist.
* Jennings' leading police to an apartment building where she said she left Amir but then was unable to identify a specific apartment led to further comparisons with the Anthony case. Like Jennings, Anthony led police on a wild goose chase as she brought them to Universal Studios where she claimed to work and gave them fictitious information about people involved in case, including the supposed residence of the non-existent nanny.
* In one police interview, when police investigator Colin Bailey told Jennings she would be going to jail, she replied, "That's the place I need to be," WIS TV reported.
* Police arrested Jennings and charged her with unlawful conduct toward a child, Associated Press said. She is being held on $150,000 bond.
* Police Chief Randy Scott said Monday Jennings is being more cooperative than she was previously. Jennings reportedly told police she last saw Amir Nov. 29 in her home. But she has stopped short of telling them where Amir is, WLTX reported, instead saying he disappeared and it was up to police to find him.