JADA JUSTICE -3 yo - Gary IN

The search for Jada Justice enters its second week today, as a joint
team of local police and FBI agents continued following leads in the
disappearance of the 2-year-old.

Justice was reported missing June 16 by 18-year-old cousin Eugelica
Castillo, who told police she left the toddler in her car while she
went to buy a gallon of milk from a gas station on Ridge Road in Gary.
When she returned, the girl was gone.

A team of two dozen police from Hobart and Gary, and FBI agents are
working around the clock, exploring tips flowing into a special FBI
toll-free number, and this after a six-hour search that involved police
dogs, helicopters and sent more than 100 police officers scouring
through the wooded, one-mile area between the gas station and
Castillo's home in Hobart.

"In all my years in police work, I have never seen these kinds of
resources dedicated to anything like (the search) for Jada," said
Hobart Deputy Chief Jeff White, who said investigators now need more
information from the public to close out the investigation.

"Statistically, a lot of time passing is not good for the victim,"
White said. "But we are hopeful and our goal remains to return Jada to
her family."

Tuesday night, Justice's father, Clarence Justice of Hammond, was to appear on the CNN show "Nancy Grace" to discuss the case.

Gary police said last week they were "leery" of Castillo's account.
Castillo had been watching Justice since June 8 while Jada's mother,
27-year-old Melissa Swiontek, was on a trip. White said investigators
have been frustrated with a lack of cooperation from Castillo and her
live-in boyfriend, 24-year-old Timothy Tkachik.

White declined to comment on specifics Tuesday, saying only: "If I
was responsible for someone else's child and she had disappeared while
in my custody, I would have done everything and anything to help find
them.

"Let's just say that has not been the case."

Police last week circulated photographs of Jada, Castillo and
Tkachik. Tkachik's photograph appears to show multiple burns on his
face, though police have not said how Tkachik explained his injuries.

Police had canvassed the neighborhood between Castillo and Tkachik's
home and the gas station twice by Tuesday, and FBI agents had
interviewed registered offenders living in the vicinity.

Last week, investigators searched Castillo's home, where they
discovered bloodied sheets and dug up an area in the back yard. The
blood was determined to have come from a female dog in heat, and police
stopped digging after determining the soil didn't appear to have been
disturbed prior to their search.

White said anyone with information about the whereabouts and
movements of any of the three, or the 1991 maroon Cadillac Castillo was
driving on June 16 or the days before and after Jada's disappearance
can help investigators.

"There is no doubt in my mind someone out there knows where Jada
is," White said. "Their conscience, their religion, whatever, needs to
come through and have them call us."

Anyone with information can contact investigators on the FBI tip line at (800) 225-5324.

GARY | Jada Justice's 18-year-old baby sitter appeared to be under the
influence of some sort of substance the night she reported the
2-year-old girl missing, Gary police Cmdr. Anthony Titus said Tuesday.

"We
know there was something she was intoxicated with," Titus said, without
going into further detail. "I can't say it was cocaine, but there was
something. ... It was obvious."

But police will never know for sure because they never tested the baby sitter, Engelica Castillo, Titus said.

He
said police feared any tests would have meant stopping the interview,
strapping handcuffs on the girl and getting her to consent to be
tested. And that could have meant a lack of cooperation in trying to
find the toddler, who remained missing Tuesday, one week after the
initial report.

Castillo couldn't be reached for comment following multiple attempts Tuesday.

"Our concern was with finding the missing child," Titus said of why police failed to test her for the use of any substances.

Castillo, who initially was held by Gary police as a person of interest, later was released without being charged.

Titus said Castillo also has been interviewed by Hobart police and the FBI.

Castillo, who had been baby-sitting the Portage toddler in Hobart, reported Jada missing on the night of June 16.

She
told Gary police she had driven from her Hobart home to the Glen Park
Gas station, at the intersection of Louisiana and Ridge Road in Gary,
to buy some milk and cigarettes.

Jada, who was left inside the
car, was missing when Castillo came out of the grocery store after
making her purchases, she reported to police.

Titus said Gary police have sent via computer a nationwide notice of Jada's disappearance to other police agencies.

He
said a meeting Monday among local police, Lake County Prosecutor
Bernard Carter, the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office went well but he
would not elaborate further.

"We wanted to make sure everybody
is on board with the communication. ... We want to make sure that
everyone who needs to be involved is involved," Titus said.

Investigators, who on Friday sought information from the public, did receive quite a few leads, he said.

"We're still following any leads, and we're still doing searches," Titus said.

Police are asking anyone who has information about the case to call (800) CALL-FBI.

By Jerry Davich, Post-Tribune columnist

Sadly, this is the outcome most of us expected, isn't it?

The extensive and exhaustive nine-day search for 2-year-old Jada
Justice of Portage has come to an end, pending an autopsy this morning
that will likely identify her body.

Multiple sources say that her body was badly burned. Having just
written that, I can't imagine the horrible condition of Jada's little
body if it takes a forensic autopsy to confirm it's her. How doubly sad
for her loved ones.

Maybe I'm a born cynic. Maybe I've been in this business too long.
Or maybe my glass isn't simply half-empty, it also is cracked, but this
case never appeared to have a happy ending. Thursday's grisly news only
confirmed it.

"I wish we had better news," one police official told media at
Thursday's news conference, just hours after Jada's alleged body was
found in LaPorte County.

Yes, all of us wished for better news as we watched Jada's family
and multiple police agencies scour the region for the girl. But most of
us probably expected this news. I wonder if this says more about us or
our society today.

From the get-go of this case and Jada's mysterious disappearance on
June 16, there was lingering suspicion about her cousin baby sitter and
the 18-year-old woman's boyfriend, who had burn marks on his body.

"I hate coincidences. I have my entire career. But why now is her
boyfriend's face burned?" asked one retired police officer with decades
of experience.

And, I wonder, how coincidental that the boyfriend allegedly lived near the site where Jada's remains were found.

Everything is starting to add up, isn't it? And everyone from
detective wannabes to veteran police officers has tried to figure out
what happened to Jada, even as minor controversies involving her family
muddied the waters more.

"I don't believe for a minute that someone in just those few
minutes, while the (baby sitter) was in the gas station, abducted that
little girl to keep and raise her," the retired officer told me
Thursday morning before Jada's body was found. "With this much time
having passed, it is just not going to have a happy ending."

That's true. But at least her loved ones now know where she is, and
they can stop posting fliers and pleading for witnesses to an
"abduction" that probably never happened at a gas station in Gary.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter reminded reporters Thursday
that officials only "have reason to believe" the tiny body found in a
remote area of LaPorte County is Jada.

Similarly, from my remote perspective on the outskirts of this case,
I have reason to believe Jada's death will linger in our minds for
quite some time. Possibly because of the long search for her -- or her
body -- which attracted local and national attention.

Thursday's high-profile deaths of international celebrities Michael
Jackson and Farrah Fawcett will surely overshadow the homicide of a
Northwest Indiana toddler. But Jada's murder case isn't nearly as cut
and dried as the two pop culture icons' health-related deaths.

In many ways, it's just beginning.

Law enforcement did its job. The coroner's office will do its job
today. It's now up to the prosecutor's office to do its job -- bringing
the killer or killers of Jada to justice.

The arrested 18-year-old baby sitter of slain Jada Justice now has a lawyer.

Engelica Castillo's family has hired Merrillville defense attorney T. Edward Page, Page confirmed Friday.

Page said the family retained his services Thursday night after Castillo was taken into custody.

Castillo is being held in Crown Point, awaiting possible charges in Jada's case.

The
nationally publicized search for Jada came to a gruesome end Thursday,
as investigators said they believe they discovered the missing Portage
girl's remains near rural Otis, Ind.

A source close to the case
said they found the remains in a concrete-laced plastic bin in a
shallow waterway in LaPorte County that they believe are the toddler.

The remains have not been positively identified as those of Jada, but an autopsy was scheduled for this morning in Lake County.

Police had cast doubt on Castillo's account of the toddler's disappearance since Jada was reported missing 10 days ago.

Castillo
reportedly had been baby-sitting Jada in her home in the 3900 block of
Hobart's Missouri Street on June 16. She told police she left Jada in
her unlocked Cadillac about 9:30 p.m. that day outside Gary's Glen Park
Gas Station.

After Castillo went inside to buy milk and cigarettes, she returned to find Jada missing, she said.

Castillo's other family members could not immediately be reached for comment Friday morning.

CROWN POINT, Ind. — A baby sitter and her
boyfriend were charged Friday with killing a toddler whose body was
encased in concrete and dumped in a swampy area in northwest Indiana.The
body, found Thursday in rural LaPorte County, was identified as
2-year-old Jada Justice. The toddler was reported missing on June 16 by
her cousin, 18-year-old Engelica Castillo, who had been taking care of
the child since June 8.Castillo and 24-year-old Tim Tkachik, both of Hobart, were charged with murder, neglect of a
dependent, battery and false informing. Each faces a sentence of 45 to
65 years if convicted of murder.They were being held without bond Friday in the Lake County Jail.Castillo's
attorney, T. Edward Page of Merrillville, did not return a phone
message seeking comment Friday. Tkachik did not yet have a lawyer.According to court documents, an autopsy showed Jada had numerous skull fractures.Castillo
had claimed that Jada disappeared from a car while the teenager went
into a convenience store in Gary. Police and the FBI took part in the
10-day search, and the FBI opened a hot line that received more than
100 tips.The child's remains were found Thursday encased
in concrete in a swampy area near rural Westville, according to a
probable cause affidavit.“This tragic ending is not the outcome we were all hoping for,” said Lake County prosecutor Bernard Carter.According
to the affidavit, Castillo told police that she routinely took care of
the toddler for days and was scheduled to return the girl to her
parents on June 20.The affidavit says Tkachik told police
that Castillo had beaten the child severely on the head on June 13
after they had both used heroin, and they noticed Jada wasn't breathing
when they drove to buy more heroin that evening.“I told
you to stop. I told you enough is enough,” Tkachik said he told
Castillo, according to the affidavit. The pair allegedly repeatedly
tried CPR to revive the child.According to the affidavit,
the pair took Jada home and, thinking she was still breathing, took her
into the house. Once they realized she was dead, the document says,
they decided to get rid of the body.Tkachik allegedly put
the body in garbage bags the next day and took it to a wooded area in
LaPorte County, where he tried unsuccessfully to burn it, causing an
explosion that burned his face and required hospital treatment. Tkachik
blamed the burns on a propane grill, police said.Castillo
and Tkachik then took the body home again, the affidavit said, and on
June 15 entombed the remains in a tub full of concrete. After the
concrete dried, the pair took it to a rural area near Westville and
sank it in a swamp, according to the document.On
Thursday, Tkachik led police to the area where the body was hidden and
FBI agents recovered the remains that were later identified as Jada's,
the affidavit said.