Jacksonville police expand search and appeal to find Lonzie Barton

$4,000 reward offered for recovery of missing 21-month-old

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New tips in the search for 21-month-old Lonzie Barton have police expanding their appeal for help in tracking the movements of the suspect's orange 1995 Honda Civic with a black hood between 7 p.m. Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday.  The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office have taken their search into the Northside with the new command post located at New Berlin Elementary.

Wednesday morning, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief of Investigations Tom Hackney said the distinctive car belonging to Ruben Ebron, the boyfriend of Lonzie's mother, may have traveled up Interstate 95 or Main Street Thursday night after dropping the children's mother off at work. Ebron, who has been named a suspect in the case, was watching Lonzie and his sister that night.

Given that new information, Hackney asked anyone who lives or works east of I-95 between the Southside and Nassau County to try to remember if they saw that car (pictured below) or to review any surveillance video to see if it passed their business or home.

Lonzie's biological father, Chris Barton, posted a Facebook message usinga different picture of the boy than the public has seen with this message:"... bring our baby boy home. We want this smiling face right next to ours! We love you baby man!"

Hackney also announced that an anonymous donor had contributed $1,000 to the existing $3,000 Crime Stoppers reward for a tip that could lead to finding Lonzie Barton. In addition, tips are usually awarded upon an arrest, but due to the urgency of this case, tips leading to Lonzie's body would qualify for the reward.

"The potential strongly exists that he's told somebody (where he left Lonzie)," Hackney said of Ebron. "I need to find Lonzie's body. This community needs to find Lonzie's body. This has caused heartbreak throughout this community, throughout each one of these searchers."

Anyone who saw the car or has surveillance video they believe could help is asked to call JSO at 904-630-0500. Anyone knowing where Lonzie's body is should call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.

IMAGES: What suspect's orange Honda Civic looks like during the day, at night
UNCUT: Chief Hackney's Wednesday noon update on search/investigation

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from nearly 20 agencies resumed the search to bring closure to a case that police are now calling it a murder investigation. On Wednesday, FBI profilers, the Florida Highway Patrol and some Georgia law enforcement agencies joined the investigation.

"That is their expertise. They a lot of times are PhD's in behavior psychology and have years of research," former FBI supervisor Toni Chrabot said.

Chrabot now runs a security consulting business called ConfIdence. She said the special unit can hopefully help bring police the break they need.

"There are multiple agencies involved right now and each agency brings maybe something different to the table," Chrabot said.

Tracking suspect with tech

Detectives said they're also analyzing records from several mobile phones, including Ebron's, to try to track where Ebron and Lonzie might have been before the toddler disappeared.

Dr. Brian Kopp, a communications engineer, said cellphones ping off nearby towers and the data they give off can be a big help for investigators.

"They would be able to get those records from the phone company and look at what towers he locked on," Kopp said. "And they know where the towers are so then they can basically draw a circle around the towers and say, 'OK, within this circle, we are pretty confident that this is where the phone was at that time.'"

Kopp, a University of North Florida assistant professor, said the technology can't pinpoint exact spots just yet. But it could get police within a couple blocks of where the phone was.

But if someone turns off a phone, the phone can't be tracked. Early in the investigation, Ebron told police his phone died and he had to charge it.

So far, police haven't released specific details about what the phone records have told them. That's still part of their investigation.  

Hackney, who remains frustrated that Ebron won't tell investigators what happened that night, hopes the FBI profilers can crack his story.

"He has made efforts to control detectives and control this situation," Hackney said. "I will give him this much, he's clever. But he can do the right thing."

'No stone unturned'

Hackney said 2,500-acres of woods and 40 ponds along Philips Highway, from the Avenues Mall south to Interstate 295, have been searched over the last five days -- some areas more than once. For context, an acre covers about the same square yards as a football field.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office takes its search into the Northside on July 29 with a new command post located at New Berlin Elementary. STORY

"I will leave no stone unturned, and some of those stones have yet to be unturned on the Southside. We have a whole bunch more stones to unturn on the Northside," Hackney said.

In addition, investigators continue to go door-to-door at businesses along Philips Highway, asking to review surveillance video recorded from Thursday night through 2 a.m. Friday, when 21-month-old Lonzie Barton was reported missing by his mother's boyfriend.

Businesses like the Burger King on U.S. 1 are happy to cooperate in any way they can to find Lonzie. Officers were back at the restaurant Wednesday morning.

"They've been here every day," kitchen man Ronald Armalin said. "They came and asked questions. FWC ... they've actually been down there cutting down trees with machetes and stuff like that, so they've been doing a good job."

Ebron remains in jail on two counts of felony child neglect and is considered a suspect in Lonzie's disappearance. Police don't believe Ebron's original story that the boy was taken in a car theft in front of their Old Kings Road apartment early Friday morning.

"This is less of a missing-persons investigation and more of a homicide investigation," Hackney said. "Those (search) efforts will continue until we have nowhere else to go and no puddle to get in, no tree to get under and no rock to overturn -- until we do everything we can to locate Lonzie."

Hackney said JSO has received over 220 tips in the case so far.


About the Authors:

Ashley Harding joined the Channel 4 news team in March 2013. She reports for and anchors The Morning Show.