ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg detectives are back home after working with law enforcement in Alabama to search for the body of a missing Florida teen.
17-year-old Morgan Martin was four months pregnant when she disappeared in 2012. Her then-boyfriend, Jacobee Flowers, was indicted for her murder in 2016. On April 1, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
In a plea deal for 25 years in prison, Flowers recently agreed to help direct law enforcement to her body.
The search for Martin's body took St. Petersburg Police detectives to Pike County, Alabama on Monday, April 4. With the help of the Pike County Sheriff's Office and other Alabama law-enforcement authorities, an extensive search took place.
Pike County Sheriff's Office Lt. Troy Johnson told 10 Tampa Bay that they spoke with Flowers over a video chat and he pointed them toward a specific location. They first used ground-penetrating radar to search, then brought in a backhoe to dig down at least four and a half feet but have yet to find anything.
St. Petersburg Police Public Information Officer Yolanda Fernandez told 10 Tampa Bay, "they spent about a week digging in a cotton field by the side of Highway 231 in Alabama, looking for Morgan’s remains. They came up empty-handed."
"Unfortunately, whether it was because of the many years that I’ve gone by or because of the lack of the reliability of the information that we got it, we just weren’t able to find out we are looking for," Fernandez said.
Fernandez said the department hoped to bring the family closure after working on this case for ten years, but this failed search marks another roadblock.
"That’s always our hope that we can bring some closure to the family and bring Morgan back home to be buried here with her family," Fernandez said. "However, at this point we just don’t have anywhere else to look."
Family members of a Florida teen who disappeared in 2012 say they are not surprised that her body did not turn up during a search in Alabama. Morgan's mother, Leah Martin, says Flowers can't be trusted. She doesn't believe her daughter's remains are in Alabama.
"Honestly, he’s narcissistic," Leah Martin said, "so I don’t think he really cares."
"There were only two people there when it happened, and one of them ain’t here no more," Leah Martin said. "So we’ve got to rely on what we’ve come up with, what the police department is investigating, what the state attorneys have come up with. But all in all, we’ve got to decide what he says."
In 2016, a cold case unit was able to connect Flowers to Martin's death using new technology. It helped them submit evidence for DNA and fingerprint testing that detectives didn’t have years prior. It was the first case the unit solved.
According to court documents, he could face up to 25 years in prison if he cooperates and leads investigators to her body. If her remains are not found by April 15, he could face up to 40 years.
Flowers' sentencing is set for April 28.