Crews search new area for Lonzie Barton on the Southside

Recovery efforts remain focused on the Southside as the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office enters day-five in the search for Lonzie Barton.

JSO's Chief Hackney said this has gone from a missing person case to a homicide investigation.

"We've moved less to finding that child alive but just to finding that child," Hackney said.

The latest search site was an area on Greenland Road behind Christ's Church and search efforts are expected to continue throughout the Southside.

JSO also searched dumpsters in the area. Officers asked businesses in certain areas to stop trash pick-up and not use it while they search for Barton.

"There's a ton of locations to search," Hackney said. "It is a true body of work to keep up with."

Some 200 officers from different agencies have been assisting in the search and we're told more than 220 tips have come in.

JSO confirmed tips, cellphone records, traffic cameras and surveillance video led them to search retention ponds near 295 and Philips Highway.

JSO has named William Ruben Ebrom as the only suspect in the toddler's disappearance. Hackney says as the search goes on they'll continue to build a case against him.

"It's frustrating because I know the answers or at least I know where to get the answers from ," Hackney said. "The keystone to our investigation is Ruben Ebron stepping up and telling us the location where he put that child.

Crews spent most of Monday searching every home and the woods and ponds behind them in the Southern Oaks Mobile Home Park, an area neighbors said suspect Ruben Ebron knows very well.

“He lived back here for such a long time,” said one woman who didn’t want her identity revealed. She said Ebron was her neighbor for years.

His former neighbor said this is an area Ebron would be comfortable with, but they still find it hard to believe he could be behind Lonzie's disappearance.

“I feel like if he knew something he would tell. I don't see him as a monster when it comes to children,” said Ebron’s former neighbor.