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Search for 13-month-old Silas Ojeda's body postponed at Weld County landfill

Posted at 9:20 AM, Oct 31, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-31 11:20:20-04

AULT, Colo. -- The search for a missing toddler at a Weld County landfill has been delayed.

Captain Linda Gesell with the Laramie County Sheriff's Office said a high wind warning prevented crews from transporting necessary equipment to the landfill.

13-month-old Silas Ojeda was last seen on Saturday, October 22, several days before he was reported missing. After the Laramie County Sheriff’s office conducted several interviews, they presumed the young boy dead.

Wyoming officials believe the toddler's body was dumped into a Laramie County Community College waste bin, then taken to a Colorado landfill in Ault.

Gesell said the sheriff's office plans to get all equipment in place during the day on Monday, and begin the search on Tuesday.

Gesell said Logan Rogers, the suspect being charged in the crime, led authorities on a "goose chase" this weekend. Rogers told officials he buried the boy in Albany County. However, cadaver dogs turned up nothing. 

Gesell said her office also followed a lead about the boy having been buried under the Cheyenne trailer where he lived. That search also turned up nothing.

Denver7’s legal analyst Dan Recht said it is not required that officials find a body in order to move forward in a murder case, but it is helpful to the prosecution, considering the resulting autopsy would determine exactly how the boy died.

Gesell said the process will be painstaking, but it is necessary to bring justice to the little boy.

Authorities believe they have the site narrowed down to a specific "newer" area of the dump, where investigators will have to search through approximately 200,00 pounds of garbage.

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