'He was just the sweetest baby': Texas toddler found dead in landfill following statewide Amber Alert
Police say they have found the body of an 18-month-old boy in a Dallas-area landfill, just a day after he was the subject of a statewide Amber Alert.
The remains of Cedrick Jackson were found in a landfill in Rowlett, Texas, shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday, according to Dallas police Sgt. Vincent Weddington.
Sedrick Johnson, the boyfriend of Cedrick's aunt and caregiver, was arrested and charged with serious injury to a child. Other charges are pending the results of an autopsy, Weddington told reporters at a press conference.
"This is not the outcome we had hoped for," Weddington said.
Weddington said Johnson confessed taking Cedrick and placing him in a dumpster in northeast Dallas. Detectives learned that the dumpster had already been emptied at least twice at the landfill, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The boy's cause of death has not yet been determined.
Crystal Jackson, Cedrick's aunt, was caring for the boy after CPS placed him in her custody, the newspaper reported.
Jackson called police Wednesday morning to report her nephew missing and possibly abducted. On Thursday morning, she told WFAA TV in Dallas that police had informed her of the child's death.
"We don't know 100% of what happened," Jackson told WFAA, "but we all loved that baby. He was just the sweetest baby."
Police did not say why CPS placed Cedrick with his aunt, but Dishundra Thomas, his mother, said that it was temporary and not against her will, the Morning News reported.
Jackson said she put the child to bed at 11 p.m. Tuesday and woke up to find that he was gone. Officers responded to a call about the missing child shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Maintenance workers said they were repairing the front door of Jackson's apartment on Thursday morning, but declined to say what happened to the door, according to the Morning News. A window at the apartment had also been broken.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas toddler found dead in landfill after Amber Alert, police say
