SAN DIEGO (CN) — The stepfather accused of murdering his 2-year-old toddler 14 years ago waived extradition Tuesday in North Carolina and is expected in San Diego within a month.
Tieray Jones, 37, was arrested Monday in Rocky Mount, N.C., on suspicion of killing 2-year-old Jahi Turner, who was reported missing from a Balboa Park-area playground 14 years ago and whose body was never found.
Jones faces charges of murder and child abuse causing death.
He reported the boy missing on April 25, 2002. Jones told investigators he left Jahi at a park with a woman and several children for 15 minutes while he went to get a soda from a vending machine. He said that when he returned they were all gone, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Jones lived in an apartment near downtown San Diego with Jahi's mother, Tameka Jones, who was in the Navy.
Weeks of intense searches of canyons and neighborhoods turned up nothing.
San Diego Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman said Monday that a new team of investigators looked into the cold case two years ago and developed fresh leads, which she declined to describe.
The District Attorney's Office will not release the date of Jones' return to San Diego but will announce arraignment information once he is in custody of San Diego authorities.
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