EAST POINT, Ga. — Days after his arrest on charges of falsely reporting his child's kidnapping, the father of missing 2-year-old J'Asiah Mitchell is now officially considered a person of interest in the case.
"We believe this is a case that we know who is involved with it, and there is no stranger-to-stranger involving this missing 2-year-old," East Point Police Deputy Chief Russell Popham said.
East Point Police told 11Alive's Molly Oak about father Artavious North's updated status in the case on Monday afternoon. He's been held in DeKalb County since last Thursday after reporting J'Asiah was kidnapped the night before - which DeKalb Police determined never happened.
The search for J'Asiah has spanned DeKalb, where he was reported missing, to East Point - where apartment complexes were searched and a pond was drained in an effort to find a sign of the toddler - to Griffin, where a landfill was searched.
"We received some information that the child might have been in the lake so obviously we got with the water department to see about draining the lake. We were able to do that. The child wasn’t found or any kind of evidence at all," said Popham. "So we’re continuing to push forward. We brought in some other tools that we’re using now, including other personnel, other law enforcement agencies, and we’re just continuing to work hard to solve this case.”
Following the official determination that there was never a kidnapping, the exact circumstances of how J'Asiah might have gone missing have been unclear. All that has been released is that he was last seen in Buzz Lightyear pajamas.
What precisely caused law enforcement to consider North a person of interest is also not yet clear. There are no other persons of interest at this time, police said.
"We’re actively interviewing some of the same people that we interviewed before, as well as some new people that we were able to learn they possibly may have information as well," said Popham.
The search efforts at both the pond and landfill over the weekend did not appear to turn up any leads. J'Asiah's mother, Asia Mitchell, and other family members also scoured the woods around Decatur over the weekend.
"Any time a child is missing, we always put all our resources forward trying to find the child. There’s always a family there that wants answers, and we want answers, as well," said Popham. "Sometimes the word closure is not a very accurate word if you’ve been involved in things like these, but at least it’s a start to a healing process."
North was arrested for false statements and false report of a crime after telling police that J'Asiah was taken in a robbery attempt. The toddler has now been missing more than 100 hours since Wednesday night.
J’Asiah Mitchell | Gallery
