COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
Columbia Police say Zinah Jennings is crucial in the investigation to find her missing son, Amir, but she's not talking.
Instead, investigators are relying on tips from ordinary citizens in hopes of finding the toddler who has been missing since November 2011.
Sgt. Arthur Thomas says the file on Amir grows daily from tips of possible sightings of the toddler as recent as today. He says they act on each one.
"Most of those sightings, all of them thus far have been negative, but it's just an idea of what we're doing to locate Amir," Thomas said.
Investigators are also reviewing Zinah's phone records from September to the day of her arrest in late December 2011.
Thomas says they are especially interested in calls Zinah made to a Tracfone.
"Some people she called 80-something times, some she called 100 times. Those are the ones we want to find first because she may have told them something that they didn't think much of but now may be very important," Thomas said.
Thomas says the FBI and the State Law Enforcement Division are helping. He hopes tracking Zinah's conversations will provide a solid tip to explain Amir's location.
"She has the key to this whole case," Thomas said. "She's had it from the beginning. It is my hope that she gave that key to someone else and they just didn't realize it."
