BATON ROUGE — Baton Rouge Police provided an update as crews enter their third week of searching a portion of the North Landfill for Ja’Derrius Minnieweather.
Minnieweather, 15, was declared a missing person after he was last seen on June 5. His body has yet to be found, but BRPD says “there is no established end date for the operation” and that they remain “committed to continuing the search” in hopes of finding Minnieweather.
BRPD says they have made “significant progress” but Chief T.J. Morse told UWK a few weeks ago that the search was going to be difficult, especially given the extreme heat and requirements to ensure the search personnel’s safety.
“As of July 27, search teams have covered 2,679 square yards of the landfill and processed 1,054.1 tons of landfill material. During the past three weeks, the operation has continually evaluated and refined its search methods, increasing daily productivity from approximately 90 tons per day to 150 tons per day. More than 395 search shifts have been completed, with an average of 15 searchers per shift across three daily shifts. In total, the operation requires approximately 70 to 80 personnel each day, including search teams, logistics, medical support, equipment operators, command staff, and numerous support personnel who work behind the scenes to keep the operation running safely and efficiently,” BRPD updated.
Police believe 15-year-old Minnieweather was murdered on June 5 and his body hidden in a trash can that was picked up and its contents delivered to the landfill shortly after his death.
Police and volunteers searched widely for Minnieweather in the days after his family reported him missing. That search continues with several law enforcement agencies and entities in the field, including FBI, Baton Rouge Police Department, Baton Rouge Fire Department, Acadian Ambulance, EMTs, State Police, and more. Some people have come from as far away as Tennessee.
Because it’s still an open investigation, each piece of debris that is searched is carefully inspected and documented, says Josh Gill, United Cajun Navy incident commander. Using drones and electronic gridding, officials are able to see every inch of the process and debris that is removed for inspection.
They won’t be searching the whole landfill. Investigators believe they have identified the specific truck that picked up Minnieweather’s body and they know from GPS fairly specifically where that truck dumped its load that day at that time, according to officials. Their search area covers a little more than half an acre on site.
Every scoop of landfill debris is marked geographically before it goes into a truck. The debris is then taken from the truck and spread out by an excavator where it is then gone through and searched by hand.
Due to the extreme heat and concerns about toxic fumes, those searching take short shifts before swapping out and breaking for hydration and food. Daily operations are influenced by several factors, including weather conditions, available manpower, equipment capabilities, and environmental conditions within the landfill.
Due to the hazardous environment, searchers are limited to 30 to 45 minutes of active searching before undergoing a rehabilitation period lasting more than one hour. Rehabilitation includes decontamination from landfill hazards, rehydration, medical evaluations, and re-donning personal protective equipment (PPE) before returning to the search.
After being on-site, Gill said he spoke with multiple people in the camp area who all spoke Ja’Derrius’ name. “And they all said his name, Ja’Derrius Minnieweather. So they know they’re not just looking for a bone or a body or a piece of clothing. They know the name of the person they’re looking for, which means a lot. It means a lot to me. That means a lot to the family.”
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