Remains of missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Adams found after monthslong search

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Update 7 p.m. EDT Oct 22: 

Police in Sumter, South Carolina found the remains of missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Adams in a landfill after searching for over two months.

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According to WIS-TV, police discovered the remains on Friday, and through DNA testing, determined that they belonged to Adams.

Daunte Maurice Johnson, the man suspected of killing Adams' mother, told officers he killed Adams in August.

Update 2:25 p.m. EDT Aug. 7: Police said Johnson told detectives he dumped Navaeh's body in a trash bin at a Sumter apartment complex Monday after killing her and her 29-year-old mother, Sharee Bradley, The Associated Press reported. Authorities said the bin had been unloaded by a trash truck before reports of Bradley's death and Navaeh's disappearance first surfaced.

Authorities were searching Wednesday through 46,000 pounds of garbage in Richland and Sumter counties, Sumter police Chief Russell Roark said, according to the AP.

Roark told reporters police were also searching other areas for signs of Navaeh.

"We keep hope that perhaps she's still alive," Roark said, according to WIS. "We're going to continue to search. We're going to continue to take information. But based on what we know now, based on the information he's provided us, she would be deceased."

Update 3:25 p.m. EDT Aug. 6: Daunte Maurice Johnson, the man who had been in custody after being seen running from the apartment building, is being held in the Sumter Lee Dentition Center and is facing murder charges, WIS reported.

Police said Johnson admitted to killing Sharee Bradley and Nevaeh Lashy Adams and provided information where the little girl's body was located, WPDE reported.

Original report: Police are desperately searching for a missing 5-year-old girl from South Carolina after her mother was found dead in their apartment in Sumter County.

Police were called Monday evening after a family member found the body of Sharee Bradley, WACH reported. But her daughter, Nevaeh Lashy Adams was not there.

Police are now looking for the little girl who is described as 4 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 50 pounds. She has black hair that is braided and has colored beads, The State reported.

An autopsy is scheduled Tuesday on the girl's mother to find out the cause of her death, the newspaper reported.

A man was seen running from the apartment and was taken into custody, but no charges were announced against him and police are not sure if he had anything to do with Bradley's death, The State reported.

Anyone with information about Nevaeh Lashy Adams is being asked to call Sumter Police Department at 803-436-2700 or their nearest law enforcement agency, WIS reported.

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