The search for Lonzie Barton still isn’t over, but there are some new updates in his case. The Amber Alert surrounding his disappearance has been lifted by authorities, who have expressed the suspicion that the child was murdered by his mother’s boyfriend. The Panama City News Herald reports that the Amber Alert was cancelled on Monday as police released incriminating surveillance footage of suspect Ruben Ebron Jr.
Surveillance footage showed Ebron driving the vehicle which he said was stolen after he left the child unattended in it. It also showed him running from the location where the car was ultimately found. The incriminating evidence has only enhanced suspicions against the man, who has maintained his innocence since Lonzie’s disappearance.
Ruben Ebron has alleged that the boy’s biological father could be responsible for his mysterious disappearance, but authorities have not relented in their assertion that the man may have murdered the child. Nonetheless, the child’s body has not been found, and no evidence has been publicized to indicate that he is deceased.
Over the course of the search for Lonzie Baron, multiple bodies have been found. Human remains that were recently found in a submerged car have finally been positively identified as a missing sailor. First Coast News reports that Yaroslav Victorovich Iventyev was 22-years-old when he disappeared in February of 2003 . No cause of death has been determined, but it’s fortunate that a 12-year-old cold case disappearance has been given closure.
Lonzie Barton is not the only child missing in the state of Florida. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, there are at least 82 unsolved disappearances of children between the ages of 0- to 13-years-old. Included in those 82 unsolved cases is the high profile disappearance of Haleigh Cummings — who happens to be the cousin of missing child Lonzie Barton. This detail has attracted much attention on social media and through mainstream news reports.
Will Lonzie Barton ever be found? At this point, it’s impossible to tell, as authorities continue to search for him while building a homicide case against Ruben Ebron. Meanwhile, the missing boy’s biological mother is said to be “exhausted” during this time of tragedy and uncertainty. At this time, Lonna Lauramore is not considered a person or interest or suspect in Lonzie’s disappearance. She was reportedly working at the time of her son’s disappearance, and is presumed to know nothing about the whereabouts of her son.
[Photo: Jacksonville County Sheriff’s Office handout / Lonzie Barton]
