Amber Alert called off in search for Lonzie Barton

The Amber Alert for 21-month-old Lonzie Barton has been called off, with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office now completely confident the boy was not abducted by a stranger, but in fact dealt with in some manner by his mother’s boyfriend, Ruben Ebron.

“Ruben, you’re building this house of cards with a losing hand,” says JSO Chief Tom Hackney.

The “bullet in the smoking gun”, according to Hackney, is new surveillance video from a home near where Ebron’s car was recovered.

Ebron initially called JSO saying his car had been stolen with Lonzie inside. JSO says the surveillance footage shows him driving that car to where it was ultimately recovered by police, and then just a short time later the video shows him running back to the apartment, about six-tenths of a mile away. This was all just minutes before Ebron called 911 from his apartment to file the initial report of what he called a stolen car and abduction.

“His whole explanation is nothing but a load of lies,” Hackney says.

Hackney says because the video shows the car was never actually stolen, Ebron has no reasonable account for where the boy was that night.

VIDEO: Surveillance footage of Ruben Ebron, per JSO

While the Amber Alert is getting called off, Hackney says they’re moving forward with building their murder case against Ebron.

“That murder case is getting stronger day by day,” he says.

Ebron is not charged with murder at this time. Hackney says the rush now is to recover Lonzie’s body, not to press charges. He says while it would be difficult to put together a case without a body, the exhaustive search they’ve done until now has not been easy either, but they’ve done it well.

The reward for information leading to Lonzie’s recovery is now up to $13,200. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers by calling 1-866-845-TIPS. You can also contact JSO at 904-630-0500 or JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org.