Search Continues for Missing Baby Dwight Stallings

When we first received a press release from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department over the weekend about missing baby Dwight Stallings, we were a little puzzled.

The baby, who would be 22 months old today, was last seen in April 2011—and sheriff's deputies are starting their investigation now?

But an article in Tuesday's Sacramento Bee may shed a little more light on the case. Sheriff's spokesperson Jason Ramos told the Bee that Stallings's mother, Tanisha Edwards, was a drug user and under investigation by Child Protective Services.

Caseworkers could not determine Baby Dwight's whereabouts during several visits last April, Ramos said, but a missing person's report was never filed.

"We can't ignore the possibility that the baby is no longer alive," Ramos told the Bee.

The question came to light again when Elk Grove police arrested Edwards last week at her mother's house in Elk Grove on suspicion of violating her probation and being under the influence of drugs, after Edwards failed to appear at a court hearing. Edwards didn't have her son with her and couldn't explain where he was—and neither could family members and friends interviewed by police, according to the sheriff's department.

But Edwards's mother, Barbara Edwards, did tell CBS13 she had been following the CPS case and was hoping that social workers would find her grandson.

Tanisha Edwards is now in custody at the Sacramento County main jail. Meanwhile, a well-known bounty hunter has offered a $3,000 reward for information about Dwight Stallings's whereabouts, the Bee reports.

The Sheriff's Department and the Elk Grove Police Department are collaborating to look for the child and ask anyone with information to call 916-874-5115.

Readers, have you been following this sad and strange case? What's your take?