South Carolina police find remains of 5-year-old girl missing since August in landfill

The remains of a missing 5-year-old girl were found Monday in a South Carolina landfill, ending a search that began in August and included about 400 people scouring about "4 million pounds of material," according to police.

The Sumter Police Department announced the recovery of Nevaeh Lashy Adams, 5, on Tuesday in a news release. She has been missing and presumed dead since police found the body of her mother, 29-year-old Sharee Bradley, inside her apartment on Aug. 5.

"This is not the outcome any of us would have wanted but we hope this can provide some closure to the family," Sumter Police Chief Russell F. Roark III said in a statement.

In August, police arrested Daunte Maurice Johnson, 28, who was seen fleeing the apartment, according to a news release. In a statement released in August, Sumter police said Johnson confessed to killing both Bradley and her daughter and "provided information that would help police locate" Nevaeh.

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In the August statement, police said Johnson was a transient with a criminal record in other states and was also a suspect in a homicide in Missouri. He has been charged with murder, The State newspaper reported.

Police relaunched efforts to find Nevaeh at a landfill in South Carolina's Richland County on Sept. 17.

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"Landfill search experts with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified an area where remains and/or other evidence in the case would most likely be located," police said in a statement.

More than 40 agencies were involved in the search, police said.

"I would like to thank the state, local and private agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for supporting us through this tragedy," Roark said in a statement.

"I also would like thank Gov. Henry McMaster and our elected officials for bringing Team South Carolina together with Sumter and providing the resources needed for this tremendous effort to find Nevaeh."