ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — St. Petersburg police were out searching in Alabama for the body of a teen who went missing back in 2012.
Investigators say 17-year-old Morgan Martin was four months pregnant when she disappeared. Her boyfriend, Jacobee Flowers, was indicted for her murder in 2016. On April 1, he pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree.
His sentencing is set for April 28. 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, he could face up to 40 years.
"St. Petersburg Detectives received information that her remains were in Alabama," a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department explained in a statement. "Since Monday, St. Petersburg Detectives have been working with Alabama’s Pike County Sheriff’s Office and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, State Bureau of Investigation, to locate her remains.
"At this time, Morgan Martin is still missing."
Pike County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Troy Johnson tells 10 Tampa Bay weather delayed their initial search plans on Monday, but by Thursday, investigators were able to search the area she was supposedly buried.
He says they were able to speak 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.
On Monday, St. Pete PD said digging has been turned over to Troy University.
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.