SAN DIEGO – As he tells it, Teiray Jones did nothing more than fetch a drink for his thirsty stepson in a quiet park on a sunny weekday afternoon.
"I have three other children," he said. "I would have done the same for them."
But in the time it took to get that drink, Jones says, 2-year-old Jahi Turner vanished from the park and hasn't been seen since.
Nearly two weeks later, police say they have found no signs of Jahi despite an extensive investigation that has include a painstaking search through 5,000 tons of trash at the city landfill.
The search of the landfill by dozens of detectives, Marines, Navy sailors ended Monday. Authorities found a few items of interest, but won't disclose what they were, said Dave Cohen, a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department.
From a distance, evidence technicians at the landfill could be seen bagging a blanket and bath mat decorated with images of Winnie the Pooh, a favorite character of the missing child. Later Monday, volunteers suspended a search of neighborhoods and canyons, saying they had exhausted their leads.
Jahi, who was reported missing from a playground in Balboa Park, was last seen wearing a shirt adorned with Winnie the Pooh and the character Tigger from the popular children's book.
Jahi stands just 30 inches tall and weighs about 30 pounds.
"Hopefully, whoever the person who has our son is going to come to their senses," the boy's mother, Tameka Jones, said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We need him back."
Teiray Jones, 23, told police he left the boy alone April 25 for about 15 minutes while he went to get a soda from a park vending machine about 150 yards away.
In an interview with the AP, the stepfather insisted he left the boy alone for three to four minutes and that a woman with other toddlers was at the playground at the time.
"He was in the park playing with two children," he said. "I didn't see any harm."
Asked about the discrepancy, Cohen insisted that Jones told investigators that he was gone about 15 minutes.
"All I know is what he told us," he said.
Police have said Jones is not a suspect, and they are investigating the case as an abduction. Detectives have been unable to locate the woman Jones said was in the park when Jahi disappeared.
The San Diego Union-Tribune, citing anonymous sources, reported last week that investigators doubt Jones' story because they did not find the boy's fingerprints on any playground equipment. The newspaper also said authorities believe Jones' lie detector test indicated deception.
The police won't comment on the report; the stepfather shrugged it off.
"Everyone has their personal opinion," he said. "We can't change the way people think."
Teiray Jones moved to Southern California last year from Frederick, Md., where judges have issued two warrants for failing to appear on marijuana and paraphernalia possession charges.
The couple married in December and planned to make their home in San Diego while Tameka, 18, served in the Navy. She left Jahi in the care of her mother in Maryland until last month.
Jahi rejoined his mother April 21, just before she left for a weeklong training exercise aboard the USS Rushmore off San Diego. The Navy brought her back home when the boy was reported missing and she's been on emergency leave since then.
Tameka and Teiray Jones say they continue to believe, and hope, that someone took their son, possibly thinking he had been abandoned at the park. If the child was left alone for 15 minutes or less does not matter to the mother, she said.
"It's not about who is to blame," she said. "It's about finding our son, Jahi. People's focus is not on finding my son anymore and it really hurts."
