Remains found near Belleville may be child reported missing two years ago
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The remains found buried in Stookey Township on Wednesday may be a child reported missing by his mother two years ago, authorities said Thursday.
Police in St. Louis and Desloge, Missouri, said the multi-agency search for buried remains stems from a parental kidnapping investigation in which charges have already been filed.
As of Thursday, the St. Clair County Coroner’s Office had not identified the remains, and the child’s cause of death is still under investigation. A forensic pathologist is expected to make a determination on Friday.
No charges related to the death have been announced.
Lt. John Blaskiewicz, commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department homicide division, said at a news conference that police have “strong information to suggest” the death occurred in St. Louis. They also believe the child may have died before police got involved in the initial missing person report in 2024.
When asked if the defendants in the kidnapping case have a connection to Stookey Township, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Commissioner Robert Tracy said, “There’s a connection that will come out further in our investigation.”
“This is still an ongoing death investigation,” Tracy said. “We don’t wanna compromise an investigation, especially a death investigation — and possibly a homicide investigation — to make sure that we put everything together and bring the people to justice that are responsible for this.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, Desloge Police Department or St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
Missouri kidnapping charges
Ronnell M. Jones, 32, of St. Louis, was charged June 29 in St. Francois County, Missouri, with felony parental kidnapping and harassment. Prosecutors accused him of “concealing” the child from his mother for over two years, causing her emotional distress.
Jones’ attorney, Lyn Ruess from the St. Louis City Public Defender’s Office, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The child’s mother reported him missing in 2024, according to the Desloge Police Department’s June 29 request to the court to issue a warrant for Jones’ arrest.
The court document states that the mother told police the last time she saw her son was in Jones’ car in April 2024.
At the time, she noticed the boy had some missing teeth, according to the document. She said Jones fled the area with the child when she confronted him about this.
Desloge Police told the court that Jones has made various statements about the child’s whereabouts, including reporting that the boy was in child protective services’ custody when that wasn’t true.
“At one point, defendant said he dropped the minor child off to an Amish community in Mississippi and that he goes to visit him,” the court document states. “The defendant has refused to provide any information that would allow for law enforcement to locate the child in Mississippi.”
Desloge Police said witnesses reported to police that the child had died.
Another person, Kirstie Dora, 35, of St. Louis, also was charged with parental kidnapping and harassment as part of the investigation, according to Desloge Police.
The boy’s mother criticized St. Louis police and accused them of not taking her 2024 missing person report seriously in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
She filed another missing person report with the Desloge Police Department on June 12, which led to Jones’ arrest on June 30 and the search for remains in Stookey Township on July 8.
In a news release Thursday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department stated that detectives submitted an application for parental kidnapping charges in early 2025, but the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office requested “additional investigative work."
During the news conference, Tracy said multiple people came forward with information after the mother took her case to Desloge that might have sped up the case.
“If we had the ability to speak to some of those individuals, we probably would have gotten some of that information as well,” Tracy said. “So, very good work on their part, and we appreciate the work that they’ve done to be at this point right now.”
Tracy said the department is conducting an internal investigation into the response to the 2024 missing person report and subsequent investigative actions.
“We owe this family and this community an honest review of our actions,” Tracy said. “A lot of things were done right, but when we make mistakes, we gotta make sure that we talk about them and we work to see how to correct them.”
