The parents of missing toddler Lonzie Barton underwent drug testing Wednesday at the Duval County Courthouse.
Deputies say the pair sold drugs to undercover cops a total of five times within a 48-hour period.
Lonna Lauramore Barton, 25 and Chris Barton, 42, were at a motel doing drugs when the informant called authorities concerned about safety, according to an arrest report. Barton’s 32-year-old boyfriend William Ruben Ebron Jr. remains in jail on child neglect charges.
Dobson says authorities had been investigating for almost a month and that evidence was culled from multiple sales of the drug molly that involved the parents.
The couple is due in court for first appearance tomorrow afternoon.
Their arrest comes hours after the couple was in court in Duval County for a custody hearing during which a judge ordered them to be screened for alcohol, drugs and mental health.
Their son, 21-month-old Lonzie Barton, disappeared in July from a Jacksonville apartment complex. She was on probation for those charges.
Ebron Jr. told police that he left Lonzie in his car alone for a few minutes to retrieve something in the house, and when he returned the car was gone.
Police have said Ebron lied about the car theft and abduction and likely knows what happened to Lonzie.
Authorities said another inmate recorded their conversations. He is charged with child neglect, giving false information, attempted escape, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of a concealed handcuff key and introducing/smuggling contraband into a detention facility and his bail has been revoked.
The reward to find Lonzie now stands at more than $13,000.
“As I said, the narcotics investigators and our investigative unit here have worked tirelessly after we received intelligence information on these three subjects”, Dobson said. Since then, the search for the child has turned into what the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is calling a murder investigation. Foul play wasn’t suspected. Skeletal remains appeared to be inside.