IDAHO FALLS — Dive teams were to resume searching the Snake River this morning for 19-month-old Acacia Patience Bishop, while Idaho Falls police said they believe her tiny body is somewhere in a 40-foot-deep pool alongside the river.
The pool, a man-made diversion where police believe the Utah girl was lost, is about 200 yards long and 50 feet wide. Divers, who searched it for nearly eight hours, said they could see only a few inches through the murky water. Searchers recovered a doll and baby shoes on the bank Monday evening, Hunt said. The search is to resume at 10 a.m. today.
Acacia, who had been the subject of an AMBER kidnapping alert, was believed to have been kidnapped Sunday by her maternal grandmother, Kelley Jean Lodmell, 38, from the Salt Lake County home of her great-grandmother.
Monday, officers from the Idaho Falls Police Department detained Lodmell at Bonneville County Jail after she was found at a park adjacent to the river in Idaho Falls. She has yet to be charged. At 11:49 a.m. Monday, police responded to a 911 call reporting that a woman had lost a baby in the swift-moving river, which averages about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lodmell, who reportedly suffers from a mental disorder, told police she and her granddaughter were sitting on the bank of the pool, dipping their feet into the water, when they accidentally fell in. Later, police indicated they question whether the baby's immersion was an accident.
"We're not 100 percent sure a homicide occurred. But we have enough information now that we should treat this as a homicide," said Idaho Falls Police Sgt. Steve Hunt.
When officers arrived at the park, one of them recognized Lodmell from the AMBER Alert that had been issued earlier in the day, according to Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard. The 911 call had been made at the request of Lodmell. Two detectives from Salt Lake County flew to Idaho Falls Monday afternoon to question her, Kennard said.
A dozen two-person dive teams spent much of Monday searching the Snake River, which bisects Idaho Falls. Kennard said the search has been hampered by high runoff levels and swift currents. "Needless to say, it's high, and it will be tough for the dive teams to find anything," he said.
Finding Acacia safely still remains a remote possibility, however, as apparently no one actually witnessed Lodmell go into the river with the baby, Kennard said.
The last time Lodmell and Acacia were spotted together was Sunday night when a clerk at a hotel on the banks of the river saw them check into a room.
Ordinarily, the abduction of a child by a family member would be treated as a custodial problem, but Kennard said the AMBER Alert was issued after sheriff's deputies were unable to locate the baby, and multiple interviews with family members indicated that Acacia may be in danger.
At a Monday morning press conference, Acacia's mother, Casey Lodmell, and great-grandmother, Linda Lodmell, said that the grandmother has been diagnosed as bipolar and may also be paranoid schizophrenic. She has been ill for 12 years and has gotten progressively worse.
"You never know what she's going to do from one minute to the next," said Linda Lodmell, who was tending Acacia and was cleaning house and left the child alone briefly to put away the vacuum. "I thought I could trust Kelley (the grandmother). I never dreamed she would do that."
But it is not the first time that Kelley Lodmell has taken Acacia. About a year ago, she took the baby, although Acacia was found in a basement 30 minutes later. A report was filed with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, although no charges were pressed against Kelley Lodmell.
"She said she wanted (Acacia) for her own," Casey Lodmell said. "For her own selfish reasons she wanted to be (Acacia's) parents, not us."
Linda Lodmell, a frequent baby sitter for her great-granddaughter, was tending Acacia while the child's parents were at a wedding reception. Linda Lodmell said she never leaves Acacia alone with Kelley Lodmell, who has had limited contact with the little girl since the incident last year.
Dick Lodmell, Acacia's great-grandfather, said Monday night he is "devastated" the girl disappeared from his house, where his wife was with her.
"It happened on our watch," he said. "She was just a delight. She brought so much love and joy into our house," Dick Lodmell said of the great-grandaughter who had lived at their house for 17 months.
Monday night, Acacia's parents were en route to Idaho Falls to distribute fliers and get the word out that their child could be in the town.
Dick Lodmell said Kelley Jean Lodmell drove herself to the southeastern Idaho town in her car. "It's about 240 miles," he said. "She went there once before . . . and I figured she would go there" again, Dick Lodmell said.
He would not elaborate on the circumstances under which Kelley Jean Lodmell traveled to the town.
But Adam Bishop, Acacia's father, said, "I would suspect she was en route to somewhere else."
Bishop believes that may have been Great Falls, Mont., where his mother-in-law lived "almost her whole life — except for six years ago."
Dick Lodmell said police have been tight-lipped. "We've learned more from (television) news," than from authorities, he said.
Nor did Bishop know that the AMBER Alert had been canceled early Monday evening until informed by a reporter. "That's means they're assuming the baby's dead, right?" he asked.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputy Peggy Faulkner said the AMBER Alert is specifically for missing children when authorities do not know where in the United States the child could be.
"We have the suspect. We have the car. We don't need to do a nationwide search because she's either in the water or in that area," Faulkner said, explaining why the alert was canceled.
When Acacia disappeared Sunday, Linda Lodmell tried looking for her daughter at a grocery store and a convenience store close to her home near 4600 South and 800 East, because Kelly Lodmell had mentioned needing to go to the store. The family also drove around the valley on Sunday to places they know Kelly Lodmell frequents but were unable to locate her.
Kelley Lodmell is homeless and usually lives in her car, but she often comes to the house to wash her clothes, Linda Lodmell said. She has been on and off medication for her mental health problems but is without work and has no money to pay for expensive medications, Linda Lodmell said.
Kelley Lodmell also has a criminal record that include arrests for intoxication, drug possession, driving while under the influence and aggravated assault. The last time she was in jail was January.
Linda Lodmell said she tried getting mental health care for her daughter through the corrections department and a parole officer, but no one has provided any services, she said.
Anyone with information about the case should contact the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office at 1-801-743-7000. Kelley Lodmell has not yet been charged with any crime. She is scheduled for an initial court hearing at 1 p.m. today.
E-MAIL: preavy@desnews.com, jdobner@desnews.com; jloftin@desnews.com
Contributing: Laura Hancock