Sumter Police resumes landfill search for five-year-old Nevaeh Adams’s remains

More than 60 people from state, local, and national agencies are helping the search

RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. (WOLO) —Sumter Police, with the help of state and national agencies, are searching through a Richland County landfill to find the remains of five-year-old Nevaeh Adams.

The search efforts started back up Tuesday after experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children determined there may have been two unsearched truckloads of garbage from Sumter at the Waste Management Richland Landfill, located off Screaming Eagle Road.

“We narrowed down where the best odds are to figure out where all that trash may have gone to. We have it marked down to a specific geographic area, and then we asked the landfill people to stop working in that area,” said Richard Ault of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in a press conference back on August 26.

Officers initially searched through 230 tons of garbage after Daunte Johnson told investigators shortly after his arrest August 5 that he killed both Adams and her mother, Sharee Bradley, and disposed of the five-year-old’s body in a nearby dumpster.

Even though evidence analyzed by SLED found blood matching both victims in the apartment, some family members are holding out hope that Nevaeh is alive.

“That’s what I believe with all my heart. I don’t believe Nevaeh is dead,” said Elijah Nelson, Nevaeh’s grandfather.

Johnson appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday, where a Sumter County judge found probable cause for all five of his charges (two counts of murder, two counts of possessing a weapon during a violent crime, and one count of possessing a stolen vehicle).

“We won’t stop until we got something. Whether she’s gone or if she’s alive, we will not stop until something is presented before me,” said Dupray Adams, Nevaeh’s biological father.

Sumter Police says Waste Management, who owns the landfill, has been cooperative in restricting any drop-offs in the search area since the search started back up Tuesday.

A spokesperson with Sumter Police says more than 60 people have been actively taking part in search efforts at the landfill.