’She is not in that landfill’: Nevaeh Adam’s Family reacts to latest landfill search

SUMTER, S.C. (WIS) - Sumter police, along with various state and local agencies, continue in their latest search effort to find Nevaeh Adams.

Authorities have been searching for five-year-old Nevaeh since August 5th when her mother, Sharee Bradley, was found dead inside her apartment.

With the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who Sumter police say have expertise in landfill searches, the search led them to the Waste Management Richland Landfill.

It’s been a week since the Sumter police department began the search at the landfill, sifting through areas of trash where evidence is most likely to be found.

Nevaeh’s grandfather, Elijah Nelson, said he deeply believes that investigators and police won’t find his beloved Neveah in that landfill.

“My five-year-old grandbaby is out there in a landfill buried in garbage. I don’t believe that at all,” Nelson said. “I don’t believe that at all. I don’t believe my grandbaby is dead at all.”

Daunte Johnson, who admitted to killing Bradley, told investigators he put Nevaeh’s body in a nearby dumpster. Investigators searched the Sumter County landfill and the Richland County landfill. Sumter police said the current search began when the National Center of Exploited Children determined that it’s possible that two truckloads of trash, not searched by police, were taken to the Richland County landfill.

Nelson said it’s been difficult to see the landfill search.

“I feel 100% that she is alive,” Nelson said. “I truly feel that. She is not in that landfill and I feel like the murderer of our daughter sent them on a wild goose chase. I think they are chasing their tails because I truly believe that my granddaughter is still alive. It’s just that feeling that I haven’t gotten that she’s dead.”

Sumter police went through 230 tons of trash that had been transferred from the Sumter landfill to the Richland landfill in earlier searches.

Sumter police said that more than sixty employees are involved in this daily search through the landfill. This has been a coordinated effort among many agencies including the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, the Sumter Fire Department, and the SC Forestry Commission.

Sumter police did not say when this search will be completed but said that Waste Management, which operates the landfill, has been helpful in restricting further disposals to the area they are searching.

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