Landfill search for San Diego toddler fruitless

Police personnel and landfill workers search through trash looking for clues in the disappearance of Jahi Turner.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Police and Marine Corps volunteers spent a third fruitless day searching a San Diego landfill for a 2-year-old boy reported missing a week ago.

Jahi Turner disappeared April 26 from San Diego's Balboa Park. His stepfather told police he left the boy for about 15 minutes in a sandbox while he went to get a soda from a vending machine.

"At this point, we have not found Jahi, and there are no suspects in custody at this time," San Diego police spokesman Dave Cohen said Thursday.

Jahi's mother, Tameka Jones -- a Navy sailor who returned from sea the night her son disappeared -- has pleaded publicly for her son's safe return.

His stepfather, Tieray Jones, told police that a woman and two other children were also in the play area when he left: When he returned, the boy and the others were gone, he said. Police have located and interviewed the woman Jones described, and said she was not considered a suspect, Cohen said.

Two-year-old Jahi Turner, seen in a November 2001 photo, disappeared Thursday, April 25, 2002.

Cohen declined comment on a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune that a lie detector test Jones took indicated deception and that police have discounted his account.

Citing law enforcement sources familiar with the case, the newspaper reported that evidence technicians found no fingerprints from Jahi on the playground equipment at Balboa Park -- indicating the boy likely had not played there recently.

Cohen said the report contained "inaccuracies," but added, "We are not going to discuss any details of the investigation."

Since Tuesday, searchers have combed through tons of debris in the Miramar Landfill. The facility takes in about 1.3 million tons of debris a year. Cohen said 80 volunteers from the Marines joined the search Thursday, and others were expected to assist investigators Friday.