Search for Toddler Elaina Steinfurth Abruptly Switches to a Murder Investigation

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by Jeanne Sager 3 hours ago

If you've followed the search for missing Ohio toddler Elaina Steinfurth, you know things haven't looked good from the beginning. It wasn't long after the 18-month-old disappeared that her mother was arrested, and just days later, Angela Mories Steinfurth admitted her daughter was dead. Now cops are saying it's true. The search for Elaina has officially become a homicide investigation.

The heartbreaking news doesn't mean they've found the little girl's body. In fact, they seem to be just as far from it as they were when the girl's mother was arrested.

But in order to keep Angela's boyfriend, Steven King, in jail on obstruction of justice charges, prosecutors dropped the homicide bombshell. They're not looking for the girl.

They're looking for her body.

It's ... well, it's heartbreaking. We always know when a child has been missing for more than a day that things aren't likely to turn out well, but it's human to hold out hope. You don't WANT a child to be dead. You want a miracle.

But miracles have been in short supply for Elaina's family. First her disappearance, then her mom's arrest, and finally King's. Nothing has gone right.

And now things aren't looking good for King.

He is still charged only with obstruction -- the same charge levied against Elaina's mother -- but a judge decided this week to keep one of the last people to see the little girl alive in jail on $250,000 bond. Unless he can come up with the money, he'll be in jail at least until August 15, the date of his next appearance in court.

Maybe by the time that happens, there will be some real answers for Elaina's family ... maybe even some answers from King.

Did you expect this outcome or were you still holding out hope that Elaina was alive?

Image via National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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