This story SHOCKED all of America! Even the POLICE started CRYING | True Crime Documentary

This story SHOCKED all of America! Even the POLICE started CRYING | True Crime Documentary

In 2014, demolition crews arrived on Federal Street in Toledo, Ohio, to tear down a house. The neighbors came outside to watch. Some clapped, some cried, others just stood there silent. They weren’t celebrating a building being demolished. They were grieving what that building had become.

A place of torture, deception, and death. It had once been a home filled with children’s laughter. Now it was a graveyard of memory. For a full year after the tragedy, the house remained untouched, a haunting structure no one dared go near. People said you could feel something just by walking past it, something heavy.

But no bulldozer could erase what happened there. Not for the father who had lived a nightmare. For four months, a father searched for his missing daughter. Four months he walked the streets, knocked on doors, passed out flyers. He prayed. He hoped. He believed. Every day he stood side by side with the people who had taken everything from him. They comforted him. They held his hand. They even cried with him. And all the while, they knew they had already killed his child.

Born December 20th, 2011, in Toledo, Ohio, Elaina Jade Steinfurth came into the world already fighting. Due to complications during pregnancy, she faced developmental issues. Doctors warned that her feet and speech would be delayed, that she might struggle to walk or communicate. But Elaina was a fighter.

Through months of physical therapy, she reached milestone after milestone. By her first birthday, she was on her feet, walking, moving, laughing. She adored the swings at the playground. She chased after her four-year-old sister, Kylie, giggling down the hallway. She clung to her father, Terry “TJ” Steinfurth Jr., always reaching for hugs and kisses. She was, as he called her, his little shadow.

But beneath the surface, something was wrong. Neighbors noticed that Elaina often looked sad, distant in a way toddlers usually aren’t. She smiled less. Her eyes were quiet, and it wasn’t by chance. Elaina’s mother, Angela Steinfurth, was 25 years old at the time, a young mother of two.

But those who knew her said she was volatile, prone to rage, cursing, screaming, even hitting her daughters when they cried or didn’t listen. She called four-year-old Kylie the b-word. She slapped her in the face in front of neighbors. She left Elaina home alone for long stretches of time. People saw, people heard, but no one called children’s services.

Angela and Terry had been together for eight years. But by February 2013, Terry had reached his limit. He could no longer watch the way Angela treated the children. He left her and started a new relationship. So did she. Angela moved in with her new boyfriend, 24-year-old Steven King. He lived on Federal Street in his mother’s house. And soon, Angela moved in with her daughters.

Steven was not just a boyfriend; he was a second abuser. He was seen grabbing Kylie by the arm, yanking her across rooms, slapping her across the mouth when she spoke out. Elaina, still a baby, couldn’t defend herself. She couldn’t even speak properly yet. But she lived in that house.

Angela’s living arrangement began to collapse. Julie King, Steven’s mother, the homeowner, had taken Angela and the girls in, but even she couldn’t stomach what Angela was doing. Neighbors reported hearing yelling, crying, and even thuds through the walls. Eventually, Julie kicked Angela out of the house for the way she was treating the girls.

“Steven and I, both of us, went running out the back door,” Julie says. She was with Steven that entire time, and they were worried Elaina may have wandered into the backyard. “I was just afraid by some chance that maybe she had gotten out the back door into the pool.”

That’s when he was said to have left for about 30 minutes. Julie says that’s also true, but also incomplete.

“I had told Steven to go down the alley to look to see if maybe she had gotten out the gate,” she explained. That is the missing time that many have questioned. But she says Steven was with his cousin and another neighborhood boy searching for Elaina. “He didn’t go running out the back door by himself. He didn’t go running out the back door with a baby. It was him and I looking in the pool and the garage.”

Angela, now without a place to stay, did something unexpected. She called Terry. She asked if he would take both daughters for a while, and he said yes. Terry made one thing clear. He would allow Angela visitation, but under strict conditions. She was not to bring the children near Steven King. They were never to return to the Federal Street house. Terry had already heard from Kylie what Steven was doing. He believed her. He wanted his daughters safe.

Angela asked to take the girls for the night. She promised she’d be staying with her stepfather, a safe environment. Terry agreed, but Angela lied. Instead of staying at her stepfather’s, she called Julie King again and asked if she could spend the night at the Federal Street house with the children. Julie said yes. And the reason? Angela couldn’t smoke at her stepfather’s home, so she put her daughters in danger for cigarettes.

That night, June 1st into June 2nd, a neighbor’s security camera recorded footage of Angela on the porch rocking Elaina in her arms. It would be the last known video of the little girl alive. Elaina, 18 months old, still struggling with speech, had worked so hard to learn how to walk. She’d survived her early struggles, but in that house, no one would protect her.

Terry arrived the next morning to pick up his daughters. He went to Angela’s stepfather’s home, but the girls weren’t there. He was told Angela had taken them to Federal Street, the very place she had promised never to go. Terry raced to the house, furious. Angela opened the door. Terry demanded both girls immediately.

Angela handed over Kylie with no issue, but refused to wake Elaina. “She’s sleeping,” Angela said. “I don’t want to wake her up.” Terry didn’t believe her. He insisted. That’s when Steven King came out. He tore off his shirt, threatened Terry, and tried to fight him. Terry backed off to keep Kylie safe, but returned half an hour later with his father.

After speaking with them, Angela agreed to bring Elaina out. She went inside, and she didn’t come back out for 25 minutes. Then she emerged screaming, “They stole my baby!”

Interviewer: “Terry Steinfurth Jr., out to you. You go over to pick up your baby. She is 18 months old. She has trouble walking. She has trouble talking. I’ve learned that since the last time we covered the story because of issues with the mother’s womb. So, when you get to the house, what happens?”

Terry Jr.: “I arrived to pick up both of my daughters. Um, I asked Angela to go in the house and get them. She sent my oldest daughter, Kylie, out to the car. Um, I was strapping her in the car seat. I turn around. She’s sitting back with her boyfriend.”

Interviewer: “Kylie is four, right?”

Terry Jr.: “Yes.”

Interviewer: “Okay. You strap her in. You buckle it up. You turn around and what do you see?”

Terry Jr.: “She’s just sitting back on the porch.”

Interviewer: “Okay. Then what?”

Terry Jr.: “Just sitting there smoking a cigarette. I asked her to go in the house and get the baby. She told me she was… she had just laid her down for a nap and she wasn’t waking her up.”

Interviewer: “Okay. Laid her down for a nap. Okay. That’s the first I’ve heard that. Go ahead.”

Terry Jr.: “Uh, I asked her again. I said, ‘Go get Elaina for me.’ She refused. Um, her boyfriend decided for some reason he wanted to basically start yelling and screaming like he wanted to fight. Ripped his shirt off. So, at that point, I got back in my vehicle.”

Interviewer: “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Rips his shirt off. Fight over what?”

Terry Jr.: “Yes. I do not have the slightest of a clue.”

Interviewer: “Okay. All right. What happened then? Because we’re gonna hear the other side of the story, too. What happened then, Terry?”

Terry Jr.: “So, I left. Um, I went to my father’s house. I dropped Kylie, my four-year-old, and my girlfriend’s daughter off with my dad’s, uh, wife, and then me, my dad, and my girlfriend went back over to the house to try to get Elaina.”

Interviewer: “Okay. What happened when you got there?”

Terry Jr.: “Um, my dad got out of the car. I stayed in my vehicle. Um, as my dad approached the porch, Steven then tried to fight my dad.”

Interviewer: “And back to you, Terry Steinfurth Sr. You’ve been with us before. And at that point, from what you told me, you go up on the porch. At that moment, what did the mom tell you then? Or the boyfriend, either one?”

Terry Sr.: “Uh, the boyfriend told me he would fight with me like he wants to do my son. And I just told him I wasn’t there to fight with him. I wanted to see my granddaughter. And all I wanted to see was my son’s wife. And his mother sent him back into the house and told him that we were talking as adults. It had nothing to do with him.”

Interviewer: “So, did you see the mother?”

Terry Sr.: “Uh, after I sat on the porch and talked with the mother and father for a while, they finally convinced her to come out onto the porch and talk to me, at which time we had our confrontation of argument and she still refused to bring the baby out.”

Interviewer: “Why did she… What did she tell you about why she wouldn’t bring the baby?”

Terry Sr.: “She said that if she gave me the baby to take with me that I wouldn’t see it again because my son wouldn’t bring her back.”

Interviewer: “Okay. And so then I understand around 2:00 or 3:00 finally she goes in to get the baby and she comes out and says what?”

Terry Sr.: “Uh, she came back outside and told me that the baby wasn’t in the house. The baby was gone.”

Interviewer: “And this is a very critical question. At that moment, where was the boyfriend?”

Terry Sr.: “The boyfriend was still in the house.”

Interviewer: “Are you sure?”

Terry Sr.: “As far as I know, he was.”

Interviewer: “Did you see him again?”

Terry Sr.: “I did not see him again until after the police were there. And my son had tracked him down and he came back to the house.”

Interviewer: “So he left the home during all of this. He leaves the home, right?”

Terry Sr.: “Correct.”

Interviewer: “So he leaves the home and the baby vanishes at the same time.”

Terry immediately called the police. Officers arrived and began searching the house and the neighborhood. Nothing. No sign of Elaina. The case was declared a missing child emergency.

Over the next days, the FBI, fire department, and hundreds of volunteers scoured Toledo. They searched parks, fields, dumpsters, basements. People wore shirts with Elaina’s face. Prayer vigils were held. Community centers became search headquarters. And every step of the way, Angela and Steven stood beside Terry. They cried with him. They comforted him. They handed out flyers. They lied.

Reporter: “Tell me your emotions from tonight.”

Angela: “I… I don’t know how to explain them because they’re… they’re crazy. I have been shaking for the last three days and I just want my baby home. She has problems and the only way they’re going to get handled is if me and her father can do it for her.”

Reporter: “You told me before a little bit about, uh, you know, certainly there’s a lot of community members that came out tonight here. What are your… what are your feelings on your support and the community?”

Angela: “Well, if I had their support, I… I wouldn’t feel the way I do, but not when people are pointing fingers at me when they don’t even know what’s going on.”

Reporter: “Um, some of the people that… that you know, the ones that are putting up flyers for you, the ones that… that you really feel are helping you, how… what does that do for you?”

Angela: “That makes me really happy because I need all the support that I can get to bring her home. Anything to keep me comfortable and from losing my mind.”

In the East Toledo neighborhood where Elaina Steinfurth went missing nearly three months ago, time has passed, but the message remains the same. Wednesday’s steamy summer night didn’t stop the bi-weekly march for Elaina’s safe return.

“Yeah, we’re here. Rain or shine, it doesn’t matter,” a supporter said. “Uh, we just need my granddaughter to come home.”

To many of the family members and friends who gather at the vacant lot, Pastor Steve Sireers is instrumental in keeping the faith during difficult times.

“It means no matter how dark the darkness gets, how black it gets, it cannot overcome the light,” Pastor Steve shared.

“And it means a lot. I mean, to have prayer, of course, you know, you’ve got to have… you’ve got to keep God in your life and… and… you know, a lot of faith and hope and… they help us. They help us get through it. They do,” another attendee noted.

Pastor Steve says seeing a community come together is just one way he’s witnessed light within the darkness. “We don’t know what’s going to be the outcome. Um, but we believe that, uh, the truth is going to come out, uh, one way or another and, uh, we’re just going to continue to… as long as we can, Lord willing, to keep the faith up, to try to encourage and to do whatever we can.”

While some believe finding the truth may take time, their hope has not released.

“This is what it’s about. You know, we’re… we’re celebrating that she’s still here and she’s still alive. And it’s the way it’s going to be. We’re not going to… we’re not going to let it go,” a supporter passionately added.

Twelve days after Elaina’s disappearance, the FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to her discovery. But leads were scarce. There were no eyewitnesses, no phone records, no video footage, and no body.

There was one detail that stood out from the very beginning. When Steven King claimed he was searching for Elaina in the backyard after Angela’s cries of “they stole my baby,” he vanished for 30 minutes. No one saw him. No one could verify what he was doing. At the same time, a neighbor’s surveillance camera revealed the final images of Elaina alive on the porch the night before, resting in her mother’s arms.

Days passed with no progress. Then, oddly, it was Angela and Steven who discovered a package of diapers on the bank of the Maumee River. They insisted they belonged to Elaina, but the discovery raised eyebrows. That area had already been searched thoroughly by police. Nothing was there before. Why now? Why them? The suspicion surrounding Angela and Steven grew heavier.

Meanwhile, the public rallied behind Terry Steinfurth. Activists, neighbors, even strangers demanded answers, demanded justice. Then came a disturbing account. Witnesses reported that Angela had told them Elaina woke up on the morning of June 2nd with a black eye, a head bump, and blood coming from her nose.

Angela claimed she didn’t know where the injuries came from. To investigators, it was absurd. How could a mother not know how her toddler had sustained such obvious trauma? The more police dug, the worse it looked.

During a search of the Federal Street home, investigators made a horrifying discovery. In the very bedroom where Angela insisted Elaina had been sleeping peacefully, they found blood on the walls and blood on the bed.

The illusion of innocence collapsed. On June 14th, 2013, police arrested Angela Steinfurth for child endangerment. She knew about her daughter’s injuries but never sought medical care. The charge was later upgraded to obstruction of justice.

On June 17th, Angela finally admitted what everyone feared. Elaina was dead. She blamed Steven, claiming he had killed the little girl and thrown her body into the river. But then another story emerged. A cellmate came forward telling investigators that Angela had confessed privately, saying Steven was high when Elaina died and that Angela herself had dumped her daughter’s body.

Neighbor: “My worst fear is the Maumee River. Like most people, it’s what they do. They abduct children. I’ve seen it all when I watch the news, what they do with kids and… and it scares me. I don’t know what they do with the Maumee River. I’m not from here, some dump them in there. I mean, you know that, um, pond right over there, Hecklinger Pond. I’ve done seen so many people who dump drugs and cars and all kinds of things.”

Reporter: “So, you’re worried that she might be…”

Neighbor: “I’m just afraid that if somebody did take her and he doesn’t have anything to do with it… I mean, it would maybe be in the Maumee River or in Hecklinger Pond.”

Reporter: “Well, that’d be horrible. But you’re talking… Yeah. You’re talking about a stranger.”

Neighbor: “Yeah. Because if their back door was open like they said it was, anybody could have just came in and took her. It doesn’t necessarily mean somebody in the house.”

Divers searched the Maumee River again and again, but there was nothing. Elaina was still missing. By July, Steven King barely left the house. He received threats. People glared at him in public. On July 22nd, 2013, Steven was arrested for obstruction of justice. By August 8th, the case had been reclassified as murder.

For months, both Angela and Steven had stood at vigils beside Terry. They had prayed with him, held candles with him, lied to his face, and still, there was no body.

On September 5th, 2013, the case broke open. Under pressure, Steven confessed. He led police to the garage of the Federal Street home. Up a short ladder in a half-attic space above the garage, officers found a box buried under piles of trash. Inside were skeletal remains.

Reporter: “Okay, let’s go to the news conference now.”

Toledo Police Chief: “Good morning, everybody. We brought you here today to discuss a major development that has occurred over the past 24 hours involving our continuing investigation on Elaina Steinfurth. As most of you know, yesterday about 3:16, Toledo Police Department detectives executed a search warrant at 704 Federal based on information obtained during our investigation.

As a result of that search warrant, we were able to recover immature human skeletal remains that were turned over to the Lucas County Coroner’s office. Presently, the Lucas County Coroner is conducting an autopsy on those remains. We’ve contacted the State Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and they’ll be working over the weekend to also conduct examinations on these remains in an attempt to determine the identity of these remains.

This investigation that we have is still ongoing and is still active. It is an ongoing investigation and is still an active investigation. So there’s many things that we cannot discuss at this time. Standing behind me is the prosecutor for Lucas County, Julia Bates. Her assistants Jeff Lingo and Rob Miller. FBI special agent in charge Dave Dustin. Tanya Ryder, who is one of the lead investigators on this investigation. Captain Wes Bombrys, who commands my investigative services division. Lieutenant Bill Moton, who commands my homicide division. Captain Brad Weis, who commands my strategic response division, and I believe John Wagner may be behind us, who was also with the FBI.

There’s a lot… a lot of things we can talk about with this case, but we’re here to be able to answer what questions that we will field from you at this time.”

Reporter: “Did Steven King give you the tip that led you to the remains?”

Chief: “You want to talk about that? Uh, obviously at this point, I’m not going to make a comment on that. I can tell you that we… we obviously have been working on it ever since this case has started and we’re continuing, and, um, it led us to 704 Federal from, uh, our investigation last night.”

Reporter: “But you’re not saying that it came from…”

Chief: “No, I can’t comment on that right now.”

Reporter: “How long were those remains there in that garage?”

Chief: “That I can’t comment on either.”

Reporter: “Had you checked the garage before?”

Chief: “Uh, we’ve, uh, conducted a couple search warrants at the house, specifically the garage. No, um, obviously our investigation led us yesterday, last night, or yesterday afternoon, I mean, to that specific garage and that’s why we, uh, conducted another search warrant there.”

Reporter: “What type of box was it and where was it inside the garage?”

Chief: “Uh, I can tell you that, you know, off the top of my head, I can’t tell you the… I can tell you that it was located… there’s rafters in the garage that, uh, expand above, and it was located near the far corner in that garage behind quite a bit of other, I want to say, boxes, trash, things of that nature.”

Reporter: “It was in a box in the rafters?”

Chief: “It was up on a shelf in the rafters. Yes.”

Reporter: “Can you describe the box?”

Chief: “Uh, not at this time. No.”

Reporter: “But just… some of the volunteers have been searching for that as before, to search the garage. Is this true?”

Chief: “I don’t know what those people have said. We searched the garage to the best of our ability at that time and the location is very tough to search. If anybody has been out there, they could attest to that.”

Reporter: “So, before this search, you hadn’t received any requests to search the garage before?”

Chief: “We searched, uh, initially when we were looking for the missing child. The original investigation was a missing child. So they’re looking for where a child could go.”

Reporter: “Um, three weeks in, Ruth Smith with the group Justice for Elaina said they brought, uh, their own dog in and they got some hit on the garage and called the police and told you guys and you didn’t do anything about it. Do you recall hearing from…”

Chief: “No, I don’t recall that at all. We did bring our own cadaver dogs in. However, due to the condition of the property, the dogs were not allowed to go in.”

Reporter: “When was the original search conducted after the baby disappeared?”

Chief: “Right away. The police started a search that day in the garage also. All properties and garage, and then the next day, right away, we canvassed the whole neighborhood searching door to door, talking to people.”

Reporter: “So the garage had been searched previously. Do you know how? I just want to make sure it happened.”

Chief: “It was searched, but the complete search, I don’t… I can’t tell you prior to yesterday.”

Reporter: “Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Did whoever was searching go up into that loft-type area?”

Chief: “Well, we… we… we can’t get into all those details right now. Okay.”

Reporter: “Well, because right now I think the general sentiment is that Toledo Police dropped the ball on this by not finding the box. I mean, whether or not… I mean, was the baby in there the whole time, do you think?”

Chief: “Well, we didn’t drop the ball, number one. Number two, this investigation is ongoing and it’s active. We can’t get into all these various details right now, which the main thing that you have to remember… there are two things: Number one, we wanted to find a body. We wanted to find that baby, which we did. Number two, we want to bring justice for Elaina, which means that we’re going to continue to pursue our investigation and do the things we need to do to make sure the people that are responsible for this are held accountable. We’re not going to get into all this ‘how many times we checked here, how many times we checked that.’ Uh, we had a lot of deception taking place, being told to us by a variety of sources in this community. And because of that, we took the investigation where we felt we needed to take it. The bottom line is we… we found what we believe may be Baby Elaina. We’re going to conduct our investigation. We’re going to bring those responsible to justice.”

Reporter: “How identifiable are the remains?”

Chief: “Only thing I can tell you, there is immature human skeletal remains and that’s all I can tell you. It’ll be up to the Lucas County Coroner to make that determination and they’re doing that right now on the autopsy. We’re bringing in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. They’ll be working over the weekend to try to help and do additional examinations so we can determine for sure if the remains are who we think it may be.”

Reporter: “Maybe Ms. Bates can speak to this. The deception that you just spoke about, is that the reason that, uh, so far at this point it’s only been obstruction of justice, and how soon, if at all, will there be other charges brought now that you have possibly a body?”

Prosecutor Julia Bates: “Thanks for asking that question. Um, I guess what I’d like to say is it would really do no service to any of the participants, your, uh, readers and your viewers, the community at large, the family, to speculate on any of the things that you’ve asked us because we don’t… there are so many things that at this point in time we don’t know. So what we are telling you is what we do know, what we can tell you. And as it unfolds and as the investigation continues, you’ll learn more and more and more. But to speculate and to hypothesize about if, when, where, how, and why, we just cannot do that. And that would just be silly and foolish. Sorry.”

Reporter: “Going on that note about deception. Over the last few weeks, you’ve seen the focus of the search really be the river. Was that a product of deception? What led to that shift in the search at the river? Now we have this garage.”

Chief: “We’re not… we’re not going to get into that. Once again, this is an active investigation and it’s ongoing. We’re not going to start going on the various threads of why we did what we did because once again, this is an active investigation.”

Reporter: “Uh, there was originally, uh, the mom, Angela, she found… she said she found a diaper along the river. Do you think maybe, uh, she planted it there? Did the baby ever… do you think the baby ever made it to the river?”

Chief: “We’re… we’re… once again, I’m not going to answer those questions. This is an ongoing active investigation.”

Reporter: “Just to verify, was this taken out of the Steven King residence garage or another one in the alley behind it?”

Chief: “What, the box of remains? Uh, 704 Federal.”

Reporter: “Can you determine how long the box has been in the garage?”

Chief: “Um, I mean obviously we’re looking at all those aspects, but we… we don’t know at this point.”

Reporter: “And I know at this point we can’t say for 100% sure whether these remains are Elaina’s. However, how certain can we be? I mean, are we dealing with two potentials?”

Chief: “Well, I’m not going to go down that thread. You know, I… I… you know, we’re here to… to let you all know, let the community know, as we always said when we have more information come about this case. This is a high-profile case in this community. It’s a very emotional case. It’s a high-profile, top-priority case for the Toledo Police Department. You know, I’ve been chief now almost two years, and this is the second case that’s really strange, that’s high-profile, and… and has a strong concern in the community. We’re pulling all our resources together to try to solve this investigation. And I do not want to say anything at this press conference or in the future that’s going to jeopardize this investigation. We have you all here today because we wanted to give you an update, an update of what’s going on and so we don’t have all this speculation in the media. Okay.”

Reporter: “Speaking of the emotion, uh, last night there was an altercation after the original search when police took down their tape and left the scene. Are you satisfied with the response that they didn’t stay there maybe to keep the area calm and had to come back once the fight started?”

Chief: “We didn’t… We follow our normal protocol. If there was any indication that we felt there was going to be any type of problems over in that community, of course, we would stay. But our normal protocol is when we finish what we have to do, we leave. We had no indication that something was going to flare up. And once we found out things were going to flare up, we took the appropriate action. Thank you all. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That’s it.”

News Anchor: “Since June, a community had a simple message: Bring Elaina home. 24 hours after Toledo police discovered human remains believed to belong to missing toddler Elaina Steinfurth, a new message emerges: Justice.”

Reporter Bryant Maverick: “The march calling for justice passed the garage where police made the gruesome discovery Thursday.”

Supporter: “To look down that road and know… and to know that we march around that block every vigil and know that she was right under our… right under our feet. Right. Right there. She was right there all along.”

Maverick: “Shortly after Elaina’s disappearance, people spread out across the city looking for clues.”

Community Member: “TJ was down on the side of the river and I can’t tell you how many hours that boy had spent down there trying to find his little girl and begging them to go into that river. I didn’t know she wasn’t in that river.”

Maverick: “Police kept an eye on Friday’s vigil, which created a large turnout of people looking to support the family. A family that’s hurt, frustrated, and prayed for a different outcome.”

Supporter: “It’s not the way we wanted it to end, but it will give us closure. And that’s what we really wanted was the closure.”

Maverick: “Closure will officially come once the Lucas County Coroner can make an identification on the remains. Until then, this crowd chooses to celebrate Elaina’s life in East Toledo. Bryant Maverick, WNW News.”

The garage had been searched four times before. The garage itself, twice. A volunteer search dog had even alerted there in June. But authorities dismissed it, claiming the space was unsafe for the animal. Now, months later, the truth was right there above their heads. DNA analysis confirmed what everyone had feared. It was Elaina.

News Anchor: “Baby Elaina’s grandfather, Richard Schiewe, the father of Angela Steinfurth, Elaina’s mother, says he has been told that the remains found yesterday are Elaina’s.”

Richard Schiewe: “I can just tell you it’s just speculation that I heard today that it is my granddaughter.”

News Anchor: “The discovery of the remains in the box has family members upset. Richard says he thoroughly searched the garage in the days following Elaina’s June 2nd disappearance.”

Richard Schiewe: “That box was not there. There was nothing. I took everything out of the rafters.”

Reporter: “So, what do you think happened?”

Richard Schiewe: “Somebody put that body in there. Steven confessed to something of killing my granddaughter and somebody went and got that body. They put that body up in there.”

News Anchor: “Elaina’s father, TJ Steinfurth, and other family members have gathered on Federal Street nearly every day for the last three months. He finds it hard to believe that a body has been in a garage across the street all this time.”

Terry Jr.: “It’s a shock for something to be discovered and right here. I mean, not… I wasn’t instigating, but I mean, I drive through this neighborhood every day. So, I mean, yeah, it’s… it’s… it’s a little shocking to find out that, you know, whatever it was is this close.”

News Anchor: “The young father is clinging to hope and yet bracing himself for the inevitable.”

Terry Jr.: “I’m still holding on to hope that it’s not her, but at the end of the day, you got to be realistic to some degree, too. So, you know, just being hopeful.”

The condition of her remains painted a picture of cruelty almost too brutal to comprehend. Five compound fractures to her arms and legs, a severe head injury consistent with blunt force trauma. The medical examiner concluded Elaina had endured inhuman violence.

The truth of what happened that night emerged in grim detail. On the evening of June 1st, 2013, Angela became furious with her toddler. She scolded her, called her names, then hit her. When Elaina cried louder, Angela threw her against the wall. Her tiny body struck the wall, then the floor, then the corners of furniture. Bones broke. Her head slammed with force. She fell silent, drifting into unconsciousness.

Angela and Steven did not call 911. They did not rush her to the hospital. By morning, Elaina was still alive, but unresponsive. Terrified, Steven attempted CPR, but when blood poured from her nose, he panicked. Instead of saving her, he covered her face with his hand until she stopped moving. Then he and Angela wrapped her in a blanket, placed her in a box, and hid her in the garage beneath piles of garbage.

Steven King later confessed: “…everything was real labored and like I said, it was gurgled and was bad. I tried CPR. I couldn’t do anything and that’s when the blood and that came out and I thought it was something I did and I did CPR so I put my hand over her mouth and that suffocated her. Grabbed a garbage bag from the kitchen, took her out to the garage, and there’s a thing on top. That’s where she’s at. When Elaina was finally laid to rest, hundreds of people came. The sight of her tiny white casket broke the hearts of all who attended. Her father, Terry, released a white dove, a symbol of the innocence that had been stolen.

Angela was not permitted to attend. The grief in that church was overwhelming. The cruel truth had shattered everyone who had prayed, searched, and hoped for months. In December 2013, the trial began. Angela Steinfurth was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 18 years. She sobbed in court, but not for Elaina.

“People have been following this case and find it completely unbelievable as far as your behavior. There is no place on earth for this type of behavior. And these fine folks who were involved in the investigation of this case have put in tremendous effort to uncover what the truth actually was here, all the while you tried to prevent people from finding the truth. And now I’m left here today with so many unanswered questions. But the question that leaves me completely baffled is how anyone could harm an innocent 18-month-old baby girl in any way. Yet, I know I will never get the answer to the question, because as a loving father, I could never comprehend any answer or excuse given. There’s no justification for harming an innocent child. There’s no justification for the heartless actions of Angela Steinfurth.”

“Doesn’t know where the baby’s at, but she knew what happened to the baby.”

“What happened to the baby?”

“I was told that the boyfriend dropped the baby and has serious physical injuries.”

“They don’t know where they’re at. The detectives.”

“How come he hasn’t been charged then?”

“To my understanding, they can’t find him yet.”

“They let him go and they can’t find him.”

“So, how come the dropping of the baby hasn’t come up yet?”

“Sorry. They brought Angela down and that’s what she told her yesterday.”

“You were talking about a red van. What’s that all about?”

“That is Steven, the boyfriend’s van. The day that the baby came up missing, I looked for that red van. The police looked for it, they couldn’t find it. At 2:30 in the morning the next day, the red van shows up in the alley with metal license plates on it. Expired. The next morning, the plates are off of it with an expired 30-day tag on it. Now, when they towed it, it’s got metal plates with the maroon one from last year.”

“Yes. Why do you think now? Why do you think now this is all happening? It’s been so many days since this all started.”

“I really don’t know. And I’m glad that it did happen. I want my granddaughter back.”

“Do you think she’s still alive?”

“No.”

“It’s got to be incredibly difficult.”

“I want the boyfriend, the whole family. They should have kept the mother, the dad, and the boyfriend, and my daughter down here until somebody told. Somebody said something. That’s what they should have done.”

“What message do you have for the boyfriend right now?”

“Turn your ass in before I get you, ’cause I’m coming for you today.”

“What changed last night that Angela decided to say that she knew what had happened?”

“The detectives haven’t told me. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“When did you find out about the baby being injured? Was it last night after they arrested Angela?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve repeatedly talked with her to ask her if anything had happened to her?”

“Yes. She’s been living in my house, too. All she kept saying was, ‘Steven. Steven did it.'”

“What do you think kept her from fully cooperating from the beginning?”

“Steven threatening her. Steven threatening her. That’s what she told me on the phone when she called me from the jail.”

“So, from your understanding, what happened Sunday after the baby was dropped? What happened?”

“From what I can understand from everybody, Steven and his guy Mike that lives in the house ran out the back door when the baby’s dad’s grandpa came over to keep the peace. They ran out the back door, got in that van, and went somewhere.”

“To your belief, was the baby alive at that point?”

“I believe so.”

“At what point did you start to think that maybe you weren’t going to find her?”

“When we found the diapers in the river.”

“What do you think the significance of that is? That the diapers would be at the river.”

“That’s the last place they had her, and they knew that somebody was getting close. I don’t know. And they dumped her in the river or something. She was sick to where, you know, they were too afraid to take her to the hospital or something. I don’t know.”

“Where do things go from here? What’s the next step?”

“To find the baby.”

“What are you going to do from here on out?”

“Keep looking. Yep. Well, right now today, I’m going to get her boyfriend. He’s going to talk. He won’t come in. They can’t find him. I’ll find him. And then we’ll talk then.”

“Thanks, Richard.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you have anything you want to add to that?”

“No, just keep praying that my baby’s alive.”

“What can the community do to help you out right now?”

“Just keep searching. Just keep searching and quit making the threats on the telephones and stuff. That’s nonsense. You know, 23-year-old people playing kid games.”

“You’ve been getting threats on the phone?”

“Yeah. Well, on that Channel 11 Facebook, you know, that’s what it’s on. People driving by my house and stuff, and it’s got to stop. We want the guilty people. We don’t want the innocent people to get hurt. My daughter made a big mistake, so she’s got to pay the consequences. There’s nothing I can do to change that. Nobody can.”

“What went through your mind when you saw her walk out just a few minutes ago in court? What were you thinking?”

“I’m just numb. I don’t know what to think. I just want to wake up and just be over with. That’s all.”

Steven King received life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Steven King, the ex-boyfriend of Elaina Steinfurth’s mother, appeared before a judge at a bond hearing Thursday morning. Bond was set at $250,000. And for the first time since Elaina went missing, the word homicide was used by officials. Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Brad Smith said the case “is regarded now as a homicide investigation.”

Lorin Zaner is a criminal defense attorney not involved with the case. He says the word homicide can be used without facts to support it.

“There’s nothing improper about that at all. They’re not accusing anyone of homicide. They’re saying that we’re considering it as a homicide investigation.”

He says it’s a tactic that may be used to scare the people involved.

“By making that kind of a claim, it puts a whole lot more pressure on the defendants to cooperate and to potentially work out some type of a deal if they know anything, if they were involved. The assistant prosecutor may have used the word to convince the judge to increase the bond amount because it could potentially be a homicide. The penalties obviously could be very harsh and possibly the death penalty, and so it may be some incentive on the defendants if they know anything.”

Steven King is one of two key suspects in the case, but his attorney says this is the first time he’s heard the word homicide put out there. He adds, “There are no homicide charges pending against anyone at this point. It’s an allegation, but it’s not a charge.” But Zaner says when the term homicide is used, it would be safe to assume there is some evidence pointing in that direction.

Elaina Steinfurth is one of Angela’s children. She was 18 months old.

“In the morning of June 2nd, I found Elaina in the bedroom, and she was injured and having trouble breathing. I tried to do CPR on her, but blood started coming out of her mouth and nose. She was hardly breathing, and she was unconscious. I panicked. I thought she was dying. I covered her mouth and nose with my hand and held it there until she stopped breathing. After Elaina died, I wrapped her body in a bag and hid the body in the garage. I knew what I did was wrong. That gave police misleading and false information about Elaina on that morning and on a number of days after June 2nd.”

“The devastation that you have just wreaked on each of the people that are in the courtroom and others who have been impacted… because whenever a child—the innocence of children, and that’s why the law is so protective of children and the elderly—is taken, each of us who value life are impacted by it. The thing that struck the court so was you had the opportunity to seek medical treatment intervention that possibly could have saved that little baby girl’s life. And you put your own well-being first, your own fears of what would happen to you. And with cold calculation, you smothered that little girl. You took the last breath from her. And then what did you do? It shows even more about the core of Steven King. You disposed of that little baby girl who had a life, who had every right to grow up and be a mother herself, to enjoy the rest of the summer, to enjoy the holidays, and live a full and complete life. And you take the body of that little baby girl and you dispose of it by putting it in a box and storing it in a garage like it’s a piece of trash. And it speaks volumes as to how you value life itself, except for your own. How we treat our young and innocent children is a reflection of the core of our own moral compass. In this court’s opinion, after listening to your statement, the discussions with counsel as to why this is an appropriate case for this negotiated plea, the court finds that under any interpretation you should never be released ever in the state penitentiary, and you’ve been given more compassion.”

“Their ability to appeal is severely limited if not eliminated by the agreement that they signed. So they don’t have to worry about two, three, four years down the road maybe having to go through this process all over.”

“I think that knowing who did it and as much as we know about what happened is important, and knowing that there’s a sentence that carries a life tail with it is important. You know, it was also a number of months from the death until the finding of those bones. And so, of course, had we known a month earlier, two months earlier, three months earlier, we may have been able to make other determinations that we were unfortunately unable to make because of the decomposing that took place over the course of the 100-degree summer.”

“At that time, we didn’t have any indication that the child was hurt or injured or, in this case unfortunately, dead. We did conduct a search later on a search warrant into the house. At that time in the investigation, we were looking for evidence as to the injuries. We had information that the child was injured in the house, and our search concentrated on that house. We found blood, as it was stated in the court, on the walls, on the floor, on the blanket, that sort of thing. And then we had to verify whose blood it was. So at no time did we have the information that the baby was in the garage. We did have information that led us to the river. I think everybody heard that in court, and that we were misled to the river. And we spent a lot of resources on that. When we finally did get the information that the child was possibly in the garage, we obviously got the warrant and found the child there.”

In 2014, the Federal Street house where it all happened was demolished to cheers from neighbors. But no demolition could erase the memory. Fresh flowers and toys still appear on Elaina’s grave. Her sister Kylie, who survived that nightmare, carries with her the bright but brief memories of playing with her baby sister.

Elaina deserved better. She deserved life. She deserved love and safety. Instead, she became a symbol of how completely a system and the people closest to her failed. Rest in peace, little angel Elaina. Your short life will not be forgotten.