A baby boy from Broward, Fla. has been missing for 18 months and authorities have just now started searching the home where he was last seen on Friday.

Dontrell Melvin, has been unaccounted for since July 2011, when he was 5 months old. His father, Calvin Melvin, 27, was questioned by the police on the whereabouts of his son and he told police that he left the boy at a North Miami-Dade fire station in July of 2011.

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Britney Sierra, 21, the mother of Dontrell, is telling a different story. She told police that Calvin had left the Hallandale Beach home with Dontrell back in July of 2011 and came back home without him. When she asked where Dontrell was he said that he had taken him to his parents in Pompano Beach so he would have a better life.

In October 2012, Sierra was having “custody issues” with Melvin because he would not tell her where Dontrell was and called the Hallandale Beach police who referred her to the state’s child abuse hotline. The hotline determined there was no investigation warranted and no information was passed on to the Broward Sheriff’s Office which would have been normal procedure.

On Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2013, the police responded to an unrelated child neglect call at the Melvin’s Hallandale Beach home around 8 p.m. That is when they saw there were two children in the home and not Dontrell, reports the Sun-Sentinel.

When authorities called Calvin’s parents, they said they had not seen Dontrell in more than a year, reports the Miami Herald.

On Thursday, Calvin told the authorities that he did not leave the baby with his parents as he had told Britney, but had dropped off the baby at a Miami Gardens fire station as part of the Safe Haven program. The Hallandale Beach Police Chief said on Friday that Melvin has since recanted that story.

Police arrested Calvin and Britney on child neglect charges, and on Friday they were searching the area of 106 NW First Avenue where the couple lived at the time of Dontrell’s disappearance, for any clues as to the whereabouts of Calvin.

“We believe that evidence that is linked to Dontrell’s disappearance is on the property,” Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flourney said during a press conference.

The Amber Alert for a missing Texas toddler has been cancelled after she was found dead in the basement of the home of her caregiver on Thursday evening.

The FBI have been searching for missing 2-year-old Leah Marie Aguirre since her caregiver, Matilda Almaraz said that a man named Miguel, posing as a Child Protective Services (CPS) employee took her away on Tuesday evening from the home on 502 S. Aryshire in Crosbyton, Texas, reports KCBD news.

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The FBI with a search warrant went to the home where Leah was last known to be and discovered Leah’s body hidden under some clothing in the basement in a box and wrapped in plastic.

“Through some statements made by Matilda during our interviews with her, there appeared to be great concern in that particular area of the house,” said Chief Greg Parrot during a press conference.

The body was so well hidden it was almost impossible to find. Parrot said that a lot of effort was put into hiding the body.

Almaraz was arrested Thursday evening and charged with capital murder in connection with the death of Leah Aguirre, reports KCBD news.

Before Leah went missing, CPS had placed Leah in the home of a family friend of Leah’s mother, Tina Marie Aguirre-Davis from Slayton. Tina had met Almarez through a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook, according to the police.

Leah was placed in the home by CPS while they investigated rumors that Aguirre-Davis was trying to sell Leah to someone in Mexico for $2,000.

Connie Aguirre, Leah’s grandmother, told the Lubbock Avalanche Journal that officers came to her home in Slaton at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, to speak with Aguirre-Davis and took her to the police station for questioning.

“I don’t know what they were talking about,” Connie Aguirre said.

Chief Parrot states that the investigation is ongoing and Matilda may not be the only suspect in the case.

“Our investigation is still continuing, it would be premature for me to tell you that this is the only arrest we would make or if there will be any others,” said Chief Parrot.

Chief Parrot was asked if they were still searching for Miguel or the red Mazda he was reported to be driving and Parrot said during the press conference that he did “not know if that is still a viable lead, but we want to encourage anyone that may have any information to please call us.”

Other children that were in the home have been removed and placed in protective custody.

SALT LAKE CITY — A 13-year-old girl whose disappearance this week without shoes or a coat in the chilly Salt Lake City area caused widespread concern was found unharmed, police said early Friday.

Brooklyn Gittins telephoned her grandmother late Thursday night from a Wal-Mart store in South Jordan, Unified Police spokesman Lt. Justin Hoyal said. The woman then contacted police and officers located the child.

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“Brooklyn was not injured and is fine,” Hoyal said. “She was still wearing the grey T-shirt and black pajama pants. She did not have on shoes, a coat.”

Hoyal said authorities suspect that she was harbored by someone and police are trying to find out who.

She disappeared Tuesday evening wearing only pajamas and shirt. A major snowstorm Thursday prompted some 1,000 volunteers to join police in searching 17 square miles in the area near Gittins’ home in Herriman, a Salt Lake City suburb about 18 miles southwest of downtown.

A key concern had been the frigid winter weather. “Investigators believed she could have been a victim of the elements; it’s been extremely cold,” he said.

The storm was expected to dump as much as 7 inches of snow and bring freezing temperatures.

Police have been interviewing the child, trying to determine where she was.

There were no signs of forced entry at the Herriman home where Brooklyn was last seen at bedtime Tuesday.

“We believe she left her home through her bedroom window and was picked up and harbored by a person or persons,” Hoyal told The Associated Press in an interview.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said Thursday before she was found that the circumstances surrounding the case concerned authorities, especially because it appeared her departure was unplanned.

Gittins’ grandfather Craig Hiller made a plea at the news conference that for her to come back. He said she’s a typical teenage girl who is very outgoing in some cases and very subdued in others.

The first time she ran away, she came back a short while later, Hiller said.

“This was a successful investigation and we appreciate all the efforts by the community, public safety personnel, and the media in response to Brooklyn’s disappearance,” Hoyal said.

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana woman whose young son was abducted 19 years ago was screaming and “jumping up and down” after learning he was living in Minnesota under a different name, her husband said Thursday shortly after police announced they had found him.

Richard Wayne Landers Jr. was just 5 years old when he and his paternal grandparents, who were upset over custody arrangements, disappeared from Wolcottville, a town about 30 miles north of Fort Wayne.

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Indiana State Police said the now 24-year-old Landers was found in Long Prairie, Minn., thanks in part to his Social Security number. His grandparents were living under aliases in a nearby town and confirmed his identity, investigators said.

Police declined to say whether the grandparents would face charges, citing the ongoing investigation.

Landers’ mother, Lisa Harter, was “jumping up and down for joy” when investigators told her a few days ago that her son had been found, her husband Richard Harter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

He said his wife is “the happiest woman on earth.”

Harter said he and his wife were working with an attorney and hoped to reunite with his stepson soon. Police said Landers is married and expecting his first child.

Harter declined further comment and referred questions about the case to his attorney, who didn’t immediately return phone messages Thursday. Investigators declined to release the names under which Landers and his grandparents had been living.

Police said the boy’s paternal grandparents, Richard E. and Ruth A. Landers, abducted him in July 1994 because they were “upset over pending court proceedings” regarding his placement.

Police spokesman Sgt. Ron Galaviz said it appears the boy’s father was never in the picture. Lisa and Richard Harter had married a year earlier.

Authorities believe the grandparents took the boy from their home in Wolcottville and fled. They were charged at the time with misdemeanor interference with custody, which was bumped up to a felony in 1999. But the charge was dismissed in 2008 after the case went cold.

Investigators reopened the case in September when Richard Harter turned over the boy’s Social Security card to an Indiana State Police detective.

That turned up a man with the same Social Security number and date of birth living in Long Prairie, Minn., about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis. A driver’s license photo for the man appeared to resemble Landers, police said.

Indiana State Police then contacted Minnesota law enforcement agencies, which began investigating along with the FBI and the Social Security Administration.

The grandparents were found living in nearby Browerville, Minn.

“By all accounts, it didn’t appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental,” Galaviz said.