 Well good afternoon. Again my name is Joe Montoya. I am the division chief of investigations for the Denver Police Department. I'm going to break down chronologically the investigation and then we'll open up for questions when we're done. At approximately 4.30 on Monday August 6th the Denver Police Communications Center received a call from the family member regarding Jordan Vong, a missing seven-year-old, from the 4,900 block of Fair Play Street. The family had last reported seeing him at 2.40 p.m. on that date. Denver police officers responded to the scene. They arrived at approximately 4.45 p.m. They did a cursed research at the house looking for the child. Generally in these type of cases we were looking for the child with the hopes that they're hiding or playing a game. So the cursed research is to rule out that the child is in the home. After not locating the child they followed protocol and called members of the missing and exploited persons unit. A sergeant and detective responded out to the scene and took control of the investigation at that point. A secondary search, cursed research was done knowing that if the child was not located that there's going to be a very expansive investigation that follows to include multiple resources. They wanted to rule out that the child was not hiding in the home. Gave it a second search to be thorough. After not finding the child they expanded the investigation beyond the home. We utilized several resources at that point. We utilized the Reverse 911 which reached one mile radius and 600 homes to share the information on this child with the hopes that maybe somebody would spot him in the neighborhood. We used the social media push to get the picture and descriptors of the child out to the community. We used the news media and thank you for the timely response and getting that information out to the public for us. We used the Air 1 helicopter unit to come in and do an aerial search for us of the surrounding neighborhoods, any open space areas and bodies of water. We incorporated the help of the safe streets task force. It's an FBI based task force. We needed the additional resources to come in and assist with the follow-up search that was going to happen, which was a 20 block radius grid search and canvas of the neighborhood. So they sent out several resources to assist us with that process. Another option that obviously was considered on the front end of this was the Amber Alert. We discussed it and then we also touched base with CBI who are the experts in the Amber Alert criteria to discuss what we had. At the time we had no immediate evidence that Jordan had been abducted, so it was determined at that time that we did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert. However, they did put out an endangered missing child alert for us, which is an information push that goes out to local law enforcement. Throughout the course of the investigation it was determined that a more thorough search of the residents was necessary and therefore we attained a search warrant to re-enter the home. At approximately 8.20 p.m. Tuesday night, officers of Denver Police Department went in and searched the home approximately 30 minutes into the search. Sadly, we found Jordan deceased. His body was intentionally concealed. Last night we announced that the child's case had become a death investigation. And after further investigation throughout the night, evidence was discovered and this morning detectives took a 16-year-old female into custody for investigation of first degree murder. Since the child is a juvenile, law forbids me from discussing any more about her relationship to Jordan or other specifics about the case. The coroner's office will determine the cause of death and the district attorney's office will make the final determination on charges. Is there any questions at this point? Joe, yesterday you had to go in with a search warrant. We reported that the family was not cooperating to the level you wanted or needed the search warrant. What was the pushback from the family? Well, the family was concerned and they were cooperative to a point. I can't expand upon that because it is part of the active investigation. Can you explain where you found him and how the body was concealed? I cannot. I can only state that the body was found in the home. I can't disclose where it was found or the condition of the body when it was found. Explain why when you did the search originally on Monday you didn't find the body and you mentioned that it was concealed because you provide more details. The intent of going in on the cursory search is we don't go in the intent of thinking the child's been harmed or worst case scenario is dead. We go in with the hope that the child is hiding, playing the game. So it's more of a curse research. You don't get as intrusive with the search at that point. So that would explain why we didn't find the body. It was intentionally concealed and it took some searching to find it during the actual search warrant. Did you say there was two early searches in the house? Yes. Two cursory searches. Two cursory searches. One initiated by the patrol officers on scene and the second by the investigative team on the scene. You said Jordan was last seen around two thirty on Monday. So that's yeah. Again, I can't disclose that that is part of the active investigation. He was last reported by the families being seen at 2 40 p.m. Can you say I cannot I cannot disclose any of that at this point. The facts don't logically line up. Family calls and says he's missing but yet somehow they don't think you're going to search the house or ask to look. Can you help us connection dots? It kind of doesn't make sense. Again, that's you know, part of the the overall development of facts that led to the search warrant. That's all part of the consideration. I can't speak to the mindset of the family or why or how they communicated things to us at this point because it is all part of our active investigation. Those two cursory searches, those were done on Monday night or Tuesday morning. It would have been Monday afternoon. You said you've picked up a 16 year old. Are there chances others may face charges? Family numbers to the parents at the at this point. We are developing still developing information. The case is still active. In fact, we're still working portions of it as we speak. So I cannot speak to whether or not we're going to be looking at additional suspects at this time. I can't disclose any of the background information on the juvenile. Yes, the system. I can't disclose any familiar relations. Have there been any other police calls to this house or any child welfare calls this house? Again, the part of the investigation is the the premise history on the home, which is always taken in consideration in these cases. So I won't be able to disclose any of that at this point. Are you worried about any other I don't know. Is that a concern to police? Anybody else living in that home at this moment? Well, it's always a consideration and I think Department of Human Services, Victim Services will probably be involved in the evaluation of that with any other children in the home. Can you say it? I cannot at this time. So this is your first major case in the new position. Yes, talk to me about the difficulty of what you discovered the investigation personalizing. Well, first and foremost, I want to say that I came way extremely impressed with the dedication of the police personnel, law enforcement personnel involved in this. I saw first close first hand how invested they were into trying to find this child. And of course, it was our hope that this child would be found safe and alive somewhere. There I can say that they were investigators that probably went 48 hours without sleep that stayed dedicated and focused on this case. I would say that the the amount of concern and investment from the community and the media was very encouraging because I think everybody wanted the same conclusion on this. Once this came to the the sad conclusion that it did the emotional drain is very intense. I I felt it myself and I know that the investigators themselves felt it. And I would say just just seeing the the up close emotion involved in in this and the roller coaster ride that you go through in a in a 48 hour 48 hour span of this type of investigation, especially involving a child. It's eyeopening. It really is. I want to go back to the search if we could. Okay. You mentioned you went once and there was a second per sorry search. Why given that officers had been in and out of the home all day? Was it required then to get a search warrant? Can you just kind of explain what you thought? That's I don't understand. Well, as as information develops, initially, you're you're dealing with a missing child investigation. As information develops, then if if you're looking at the potential of it turning into a higher level investigation, potentially criminal, then you you need the legalities of the search warrant to go in and to maintain the integrity of the case and to present the best product, investigate a product to the DA's office because they're the ones that are now tasked with moving this forward through the judicial system. So can you turn from missing to now we're seeing this is more criminally involved? I can't get into the specifics. I can allude to what is is are you Mr. Selinger is I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Tony. What he alluded to, there there are a lot of pieces that just don't add up and as as we start looking harder at those pieces and then you pick up different information and it starts to accumulate, then you realize, okay, then we need to kind of take a turn and this has to start going in a different direction than what it is right now. You know, on the front end, you want to handle as a missing child and every every bit of your your energy is going into finding this child and then you get to a point where you determine, okay, it's time to start taking a different look and a different perspective on this. For the need of a search warrant, would then it be that family or the parents were reluctant to let officers search in nooks and crannies or other places or was it? I won't be able to disclose that right now. Tell us what grounds you used to obtain the search warrant. Do you have to present some evidence to a judge saying give it a prove? It was it was just an accumulation of all the evidence and facts that we were putting together through this extensive investigation. Why was the FBI involved? They're part of the Safe Seach Street's task force. One of their secondary, I don't want to say missions, but their responsibilities is missing children. They have different responsibilities. They're actually in close proximity. They're based close proximity to where this occurred. It was a natural call to ask them because they have a big body of resources and we needed resources in a timely manner to get out there and start doing this grid search. We brought them in. Is it accurate to conclude the family denied dvd access requiring you to go get the search warrant? I can't disclose that fact. The family was concerned and they were cooperating. I can't expand it to the level cooperation. They were cooperating and they were concerned, but I can't expand upon that because a lot of it is part of the integral part of the investigation. Are they still cooperating? To my to my knowledge they are. Can you share the reaction? I cannot. I would say there were some natural natural reactions, human reactions to you know knowing that the child was discovered deceased. I'll leave it at that. Thank you sir. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.