Police and federal teams narrowed a 400-acre disposal site to a small search zone before DNA confirmed Ja’Derrius Minnieweather’s identity.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Search teams spent six weeks excavating and examining thousands of tons of waste at a sprawling East Baton Rouge Parish landfill before finding the remains of 15-year-old Ja’Derrius Minnieweather, whose disappearance had already led police to charge a man with first-degree murder.
The operation was notable for both its scale and precision. The East Baton Rouge Parish North Landfill covers about 400 acres, yet investigators eventually narrowed their target to an area just under one acre. More than 70 Baton Rouge police personnel and FBI agents were involved when active searching began July 13, with other specialists supporting the work. Crews operated around heavy equipment while wearing protective gear against sharp debris, hazardous materials, fumes and other risks. On Aug. 18, the effort produced suspected human remains. DNA comparison confirmed the next day that they belonged to Minnieweather.
Finding that one search area required weeks of investigation before a shovel moved at the landfill. Police said they developed evidence indicating that Minnieweather’s body had entered the garbage collection system after he was killed. Investigators studied the suspected disposal location and where waste from that area would have been transported. Mayor-President Sid Edwards announced in late June that police had developed strong evidence pointing to the parish landfill. He also cautioned that locating remains inside layers of compressed waste would be a lengthy process with no guarantee of success.
The city asked the FBI for specialized assistance because of the size and complexity of the task. Federal personnel helped local agencies plan how material would be excavated, moved and inspected while preserving possible evidence. Officials also had to arrange protective equipment, machinery and work schedules around Louisiana summer conditions. FBI Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp said the target area contained thousands of cubic yards of material mixed with hazards such as glass and needles. Decomposing refuse also generated fumes, while heat placed additional strain on crews working in protective clothing.
The search unfolded in measured stages rather than as a simple excavation. Heavy equipment exposed portions of the targeted waste while searchers examined material for remains and evidence. The work was repeatedly affected by heat, rain and the physical condition of the site. By mid-August, Baton Rouge police reported that thousands of tons of waste had been processed. The long duration reflected the need to inspect a defined historical layer of garbage rather than merely clear the area. Every load represented material that had to be treated as potentially relevant to an active homicide investigation.
The landfill search was actually the second major phase of efforts to find Minnieweather. He was last seen in Baton Rouge around 2 a.m. June 5 and was reported missing June 6. Police initially circulated his description and sought information from the public. His family and community volunteers also searched. Local reports described Minnieweather as a student at Istrouma High School and a teenager who stayed close to his family. His relatives said the sudden lack of contact was inconsistent with his normal behavior, increasing concern as the days passed.
Before the landfill theory emerged, teams looked across wide sections of the Baton Rouge area. Police worked with K-9 units and the United Cajun Navy while searching high grass, wooded property, areas near bridges and other places suggested by leads. One round of searching covered close to 1,000 acres, and searchers examined additional sites afterward. Authorities even used sonar and imaging technology while checking a concrete structure near an area connected to the investigation. Those efforts did not locate Minnieweather, but detectives continued collecting evidence about what they believed had happened after his disappearance.
Police arrested Maurice Parms, 51, on June 20 and charged him with first-degree murder. According to an arrest warrant reported by WAFB, investigators believed Minnieweather had gone to visit a 16-year-old longtime friend and encountered Parms there. Police alleged that a disagreement developed over Parms’ conduct toward the girl. Witnesses described a tall man assaulting a smaller person, and investigators later found blood in the area. Police identified the people in that account as Parms and Minnieweather for purposes of their criminal investigation, but the allegations have not been proven at trial.
Surveillance footage became another basis for the police theory. Investigators said video showed someone matching Parms’ build riding a child’s bicycle and discarding a mask, gloves and a shirt before returning for those items. Police also alleged that he was recorded wiping parts of his truck. Investigators reported finding blood in the truck after processing it. Their warrant said they believed Parms concealed Minnieweather’s body, discarded evidence and later returned to recover evidence and possibly the body before transporting material elsewhere.
The eventual garbage-disposal theory gave the search a geographic destination. Investigators concluded that Minnieweather’s body had been placed in a trash container and later collected. Police said the container entered the normal waste stream, meaning workers had unknowingly transported the remains to the landfill. By reconstructing that route, authorities could focus on where refuse from the relevant collection would have been deposited. The theory was still difficult to test physically because subsequent loads had continued accumulating, leaving the target material buried inside a working landfill.
On Aug. 18, investigators announced that searchers had finally encountered human remains and clothing consistent with what Minnieweather had been reported to be wearing when he disappeared. Police Chief T.J. Morse said the evidence gave him strong reason to believe the search had found the teenager, but authorities initially stopped short of a formal identification. The remains were transferred for forensic examination while crews continued working. The next day, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office said DNA comparison had positively identified Minnieweather with assistance from the LSU FACES Laboratory and Louisiana State Police Crime Lab.
The identification answered the central question that had driven the landfill operation but left medical and legal questions open. The coroner said the cause of death was pending when the identification was announced. Police had earlier stated that their evidence showed Minnieweather had been beaten to death, but that remained part of the investigative case rather than a publicly released final autopsy conclusion. Recovery of the remains gave forensic specialists the opportunity to examine physical evidence that investigators did not possess when the murder charge was filed.
Separate allegations against Parms also developed from evidence police said they discovered while looking for Minnieweather. Parms was arrested June 10 on accusations involving a 16-year-old girl, including indecent behavior with a juvenile and computer-aided solicitation of a minor. Authorities later filed additional allegations of second-degree rape, trafficking of children for sexual purposes and indecent behavior with a juvenile. Police have described those allegations as involving an inappropriate relationship with the girl who was part of the circumstances surrounding Minnieweather’s final known movements. Parms has not been convicted of those charges.
For the teams that spent weeks working through the landfill, the Aug. 18 recovery brought the physical search to the result officials had sought since narrowing the investigation to the site. Their work shifted the case from a recovery operation back to forensic examination and prosecution, with Minnieweather positively identified and the remaining questions now centered on the medical findings and the criminal proceedings against Parms.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.