Plymouth Police Chief David Bacon commented Thursday morning how important it was that many law enforcement agencies were able to come together to investigate the disappearance of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain.
Marshall County Prosecutor Nelson Chipman announced Thursday during a press conference at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department that the body of Mercedes Lain was found in Starke County Wednesday night in the area of 1025 E. and 50 N. She was reported missing in a Silver Alert issued August 15. A suspect in the case, Justin Miller, told police that he and the child were at a home in Mishawaka August 14 and when he woke up she was deceased, according to court documents. Those documents also show that Miller led police to her body in Starke County August 18.
Miller is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death as a Level 1 Felony. Lain’s parents, Tiffany Coburn and Kenneth Lain, have been charged with neglect of a dependent as a Level 6 Felony. Suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
While the investigation is ongoing, Bacon said all aspects of the collection of information was vital in the early stages of the case.
“The community has been very helpful which is what we look for when we need that cooperation to get information from them,” said Bacon. “We’ve had an outpouring of support in trying to find Mercedes. The outside agencies have been tremendous. I can’t say enough about what they’ve done. The help that we’ve received – it’s been outstanding. We appreciate everybody’s patience. I’ve been in law enforcement for a long time and I’ve never seen anything like this as far as the help of all of the agencies working together. It’s been outstanding. We just didn’t get the end result we were looking for.”
He said his lead detective, Ben McIntyre, was constantly working the case along with another detective from the Plymouth Police Department and crime scene technicians within his department. If you need attorney’s help against sexual crimes, you can get it from here!
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Office in Indianapolis Paul Keenan also offered words of appreciation toward the effort.
Keenan stated, “It was a great partnership. Everyone worked hand-in-hand. No egos. We knew the most important thing was to try and find the young victim in this case. We flew in people from around the country at the request of local law enforcement here to try and bring this to a resolution as quickly as possible. We thank everybody involved. We’re sorry it didn’t come to the conclusion that everybody wanted, but it was a strong effort by everyone involved including the prosecutor and the Indiana State Police.”
The Plymouth Police Department was assisted in the case by the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office, Marshall County Coroner’s Office, Indiana State Police, FBI, FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Starke County Sheriff’s Department, Mishawaka Police Department, South Bend Police Department, Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department, Allen County Sheriff’s Department, Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department, and many Task Force officers.
