IDAHO FALLS — Evidence gathered from the car and hotel room of a woman charged with kidnapping her granddaughter and drowning her in the Snake River shows the toddler was still alive before she is believed to have entered the water.
"We were able to recover evidence from the car and evidence that was located in the hotel room, but it wasn't evidence that indicated the baby was dead — it was evidence that indicated the baby had been with her," Idaho Falls Police Sgt. Steve Hunt said.
Police found no traces of blood or similar clues that would indicate 19-month-old Acacia Patience Bishop was harmed before she was apparently drowned by her grandmother Kelley Jean Lodmell. However, Hunt declined to discuss what items were removed from Lodmell's car or room at the Red Lion Hotel.
At dusk Wednesday, almost 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil on a deck overlooking the spot on the Snake River where Acacia is believed to have disappeared.
Clutching a large color photo of their daughter, Acacia's parents expressed their thanks to supporters and continued belief that Acacia would soon be found.
"We will continue searching for her," Acacia's mother, Casey Lodmell, said. "She's out there. We're going to find her."
A couple of dozen family members hugged and cried together throughout the vigil. Acacia's father also offered a prayer for the girl's safe return.
Following the brief vigil, Idaho Falls resident Carol Dodge led the attendees in a prayer circle.
"My heart just aches for these people," said Dodge, whose 18-year-old daughter, Angie Dodge, was brutally murdered seven years ago in Idaho Falls near the banks of the Snake River. "You just know how bad their hearts ache."
Since Sunday when Acacia disappeared, four witnesses have reported seeing the girl and her grandmother together in the Idaho Falls area, Hunt said.
Two witnesses saw the Acacia and her grandmother at the Red Lion Hotel. Another witness saw them at the park where Lodmell told investigators she jumped into the water with Acacia, and a fourth witness spotted them somewhere between the hotel and park, Hunt said.
But police have yet to find Acacia. Divers and dogs continued searching the river Wednesday near the power plant where Acacia is believed to have gone into the river. The search was expected to resume Thursday morning. Family members plan to continue searching neighborhoods and passing out missing posters.
Searchers have determined a control area where they believe Acacia's body may be located between the power plant where she was reported missing and two other plants located one mile and two miles from the alleged drowning site, Bonneville Sheriff's Capt. Paul Wilde said.
Someone reported seeing a body floating in the river Wednesday afternoon, but divers determined it was debris.
"At this point, we haven't located anything that is associated with Acacia," Hunt said.
Even without a body, police remain confident that other evidence will bolster the murder charges filed against Lodmell.
"Yes, we think we have enough evidence on this case to pursue a homicide charge with or without a body," Hunt said, declining to elaborate.
Lodmell's public defender Neal Randall said the lack of a body could be one possible defense at a trial, but it is too early to say how much impact it could have on the case.
"I would not be surprised if they bound her over for trial after a preliminary hearing without a body because the standard is so low," Randall said.
Lodmell is scheduled for a June 10 preliminary hearing where a judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence for a trial. At a preliminary hearing, however, prosecutors' burden of proof is considerably lower than at trial.
Randall also said it was too early to know if Lodmell's mental competency could be an issue in the prosecution.
"In just talking with her I can't say yes," Randall said.
As the court case against Lodmell and search for Acacia progressed slowly, the girl's family expressed increasing frustration with the limited scope of the search efforts.
Divers, dogs and boats have methodically searched the river, which bisects this southeastern Idaho city, searching for Acacia, who was kidnapped from the Salt Lake County home of her great-grandmother Sunday night.
Police reiterated Wednesday they had "every reason to believe" Acacia was in the 40-degree waters of the river. Following her arrest Monday, Lodmell told police she jumped with Acacia into the river in a botched murder/suicide attempt, according to police and court documents. She also told investigators that she "held the baby tight under water and then let her go," court documents state.
Family members familiar with Lodmell's history of mental illness, however, question the accuracy of that account.
"The police are going off the testimony of someone who is mentally ill," Acacia's father, Adam Bishop, told the Deseret News. "She has lied to everyone from the beginning. Anything is still possible."
Later Wednesday, Bishop and Acacia's mother, Casey Lodmell, made an emotional plea for more search efforts to a group of reporters gathered on the banks of the Snake River.
"I'll walk the end of the world for her until I find her," a tearful Casey Lodmell said. "We want the community involved. We're not giving up until we have her body or her."
Additional divers and search dogs continued to join the river search, and family members fanned out across town, pasting fliers on trees and lampposts and recruiting search volunteers.
"I think that there needs to be more community awareness," Bishop said, adding that family members have passed out fliers to local residents who were under the impression that Acacia's body had been recovered.
"We don't have Acacia. That's the main point," Bishop said. "How can the assumption be made that she is deceased and in the river?"
Hunt said his department's investigation went beyond what people could easily see.
"The river is where the center of attention seems to be, but the investigation is occurring within the walls of the police station," Hunt said.
He also said an increased search effort, with community members combing the riverbank, may do more harm than good. Extra bodies will distract the search dogs and may affect their ability to pick up the child's scent, Hunt said.
Family members searching the town Wednesday afternoon estimated about two-dozen people had joined in the search efforts so far and 7,000 fliers of the missing girl had been printed.
"We're running on a similar faith like with Elizabeth Smart," said Steven Bishop, Acacia's paternal grandfather. "We don't know where she is, but we're going as if there's a good chance she might be out there."
During their emotional plea for more volunteers, Acacia's parents also lashed out at the system that they say failed to care for an increasingly disturbed Kelley Lodmell.
Lodmell took Acacia about one year ago. The child was found unharmed in a basement about 30 minutes later. A report was filed with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, although no charges were pressed against Kelley Lodmell. However, during a recent stay in the Salt Lake County Jail, Kelley Lodmell indicated she would take the girl again, given the chance, Bishop said.
"We have proof that she told people in jail that she would do it again," Bishop said.
Kelley Lodmell was charged Tuesday in Idaho's 7th District Court with one count each of kidnapping and murder by aggravated battery and/or kidnapping, both first-degree felonies. Lodmell could face the death penalty.
Prosecutors believe Lodmell kidnapped Acacia Sunday in Salt Lake County and drove to Idaho Falls, where she jumped in the Snake River with the baby just before noon Monday.
Lodmell decided not to jump off the heavily traveled Broadway Street bridge over the Snake River "because of too many people," court documents state. Instead, she told investigators she moved a short distance away from the bridge and jumped into the water while holding the girl, according to court documents.
Though it remains an option, federal prosecutors in Utah will not file any charges in the case in the immediate future.
Richard Lambert, criminal division chief for the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah, said Wednesday that his office has put on hold any decisions about a federal kidnapping prosecution, pending the outcome of the Idaho charges.
Also Wednesday, Acacia's parents criticized the speed with which the AMBER Alert was activated. Acacia disappeared Sunday about 6 p.m., but the alert wasn't started until 6 a.m. Monday.
Ed Smart, who championed the AMBER Alert system following the kidnapping of his own daughter nearly a year ago, says that if there's doubt about whether to issue an alert, he would rather err on the side of taking action — even though there's always the danger that the alert will be used so frequently that people will stop paying attention.
"If there's a question mark of whether they should put the AMBER Alert out, I would rather put the alert out," he said Wednesday.
Stressing that he was not judging the decisions of the Salt Lake Count Sheriff's Office to delay issuing the alert for nearly 12 hours following Acacia's disappearance, Smart said it's crucial that law enforcement be trained about the AMBER Alert criteria. One criterion, he noted, is whether the kidnapper might have a mental illness.
The alert system "absolutely works. The way it worked with the Minnesota girl was a textbook case," said Smart, referring to the rescue of 11-year-old Cindy Jeanette Bruno near Heber City earlier this month.
Smart said several of his children saw the AMBER Alert for the kidnapped Utah toddler as they drove on the freeway on Memorial Day.
Contributing: Elaine Jarvik, Angie Welling.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com; djensen@desnews.com