💔 “THIS SON OF BATON ROUGE IS COMING HOME” — REMAINS BELIEVED TO BE 15-YEAR-OLD JA’DERRIUS FOUND AFTER SIX-WEEK LANDFILL SEARCH

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA — For more than two months, the family of 15-year-old Ja’Derrius Minnieweather waited for answers.

For six of those weeks, investigators searched through thousands of tons of waste at a Baton Rouge landfill, refusing to give up on the teenager they believed had been k*lled and discarded.

Then, on August 18, search crews made a discovery that could finally bring the family closer to the answers they had been desperately seeking.

Human remains were recovered from the landfill.

Authorities said clothing found with the remains reportedly matched what Ja’Derrius was wearing when he disappeared. Formal identification still requires DNA testing, but Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse said investigators were confident the remains belonged to the missing teenager.

For Ja’Derrius’s mother, Aquarius Minniweather, the discovery offered the possibility that the agonizing search for her son could finally be nearing its end.

Mayor-President Sid Edwards captured the moment in six heartbreaking words:

“This son of Baton Rouge is coming home.”

THE NIGHT JA’DERRIUS DISAPPEARED

Ja’Derrius disappeared on June 5, 2026.

According to investigators, the 15-year-old had ridden his bicycle to the home of a 16-year-old girl who was his friend.

Police allege that 51-year-old Maurice Parms was also connected to the girl.

An arrest affidavit cited by local media described witness accounts of a larger person allegedly attacking a smaller person. Investigators believe the two people were Parms and Ja’Derrius.

Authorities later reported discovering blood in the area where they believe the confrontation occurred.

Parms was arrested approximately two weeks after Ja’Derrius disappeared and charged with first-degree murder.

He has not been convicted and remains presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Investigators say Parms acknowledged meeting Ja’Derrius at the teenager’s home but provided limited cooperation afterward.

Surveillance footage became an important part of the investigation. According to police, video allegedly showed Parms moving a garbage can toward the roadside and later riding away on a child’s bicycle.

Investigators believe Ja’Derrius’s remains were placed with garbage that was subsequently collected by sanitation workers who did not know what they were transporting.

That garbage eventually arrived at the Baton Rouge North Landfill.

SIX WEEKS OF SEARCHING

Finding someone in an active landfill is unlike searching a house, field, or wooded area.

Waste is constantly moved, compressed and mixed together.

Search crews must also contend with hazardous materials and difficult environmental conditions.

Still, investigators believed they had narrowed down the area where Ja’Derrius might be.

So they began digging.

For approximately six weeks, teams searched the landfill.

More than 3,500 tons of waste were reportedly processed during the operation, with police working alongside other agencies and specialists.

The work was exhausting and dangerous, particularly under Louisiana’s summer conditions.

But investigators refused to stop.

Chief Morse said he could not imagine facing Ja’Derrius’s mother and telling her that authorities had ended the search without finding her son.

So they continued.

Day after day.

Week after week.

Then, on Tuesday, August 18, the search produced human remains.

The clothing found with them gave investigators reason to believe they had finally located Ja’Derrius.

DNA testing will ultimately determine the idenтιтy.

But after more than two months of uncertainty, the discovery offered something the family had desperately needed: hope that Ja’Derrius could finally be brought home.

💔 A mother waited. Investigators kept digging. And now, after six long weeks in a landfill, they may finally be bringing her son home.

🌹 Remember Ja’Derrius Minnieweather.