Angela Steinfurth, finding her 18-month-old missing from her crib, frantically ran onto her East Toledo, Ohio, street, screaming, “They took my baby!”
Word of the June 2 disappearance swept through the Ohio town and prompted authorities and hundreds of area residents to search for Baby Elaina.
But concern shifted to outrage when Steinfurth, 25, was arrested.
On June 12, she was booked on a charge of child endangerment, which was dropped when a grand jury indicted her June 24 for obstruction of justice.
She has pleaded not guilty.
The story took another turn when her boyfriend, Steven King Jr., 23, was arrested on July 22, also on an obstruction charge in connection with the case.
The Toledo Free Press reported that Steinfurth confided to her cellmate that King threw the toddler against a wall and that the child later died in her sleep.
Steinfurth then admitted the couple tossed the body into the river, the cellmate told authorities.
Despite the arrests and speculation, family members and residents continue to search the area and hold prayer vigils twice a week for the little girl.
“We’re still holding out hope that she’s alive somewhere and is being hidden,” the missing child’s paternal grandfather, Terry Steinfurth Sr., tells People.
“We’re all keeping our hopes up.”
The child disappeared during what was supposed to be a routine custody handoff between Steinfurth and her estranged husband, Terry Steinfurth Jr.
According to Terry, the couple had separated but had not filed for divorce, and were informally sharing custody of Elaina and her 4-year-old sister, Kylie.
Dennis Bolfa, who lives across the street from the house the toddler disappeared from, says he last saw Steinfurth after midnight on the day Elaina was reported missing.
Bolfa saw Steinfurth and King slip quietly into a van. They drove off and returned 15-20 minutes later. He always hears the screen door open, but this time, he did not.
Bolfa says he also was home June 2, when Terry Steinfurth Jr., came by to collect his daughters. He says that it took a long time for Angela Steinfurth to turn Elaina over.
She went into the house and came out a few minutes later, “screaming and yelling, ‘They got my baby! They took my baby.'”
According to The Toledo Blade, Angela Steinfurth has suggested to her stepfather that King is solely responsible for the toddler’s disappearance.
“She says, ‘Now they’ll find out where my baby’s at,'” Richard Schiewe said.
After his arrest, as King walked past reporters asking him where Baby Elaina was, King shouted back, “You guys will find out when I’m [found] innocent.”
His attorney, Peter Rost, did not return calls seeking comment.
On July 23, Rost told a judge that King had continually cooperated with investigators and was only arrested after finally declaring he was done talking to the FBI.