AURORA | A body found late last month in the Denver-Arapahoe landfill is that of a missing seven-month-old Commerce City boy, prosecutors announced last week.
Investigators had been searching the dump near Gun Club Road and East Hampden Avenue since late March when Sharrieckia Page’s son went missing from her Commerce City apartment.
After they found the body, investigators used DNA to determine it was Page’s son.
Page, 23, has been in the Adams County Jail since early April on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.
Prosecutors and Commerce City police said they hoped the discovery would bring some closure to the family.
“It was important to the officers and volunteers involved to provide some sense of closure to family members in this difficult case,” said Acting Commerce City police Chief Chuck Saunier said in a statement announcing the discovery.
Adams County District Attorney Don Quick echoed Saunier.
“I am grateful for the family members that the baby’s body was recovered. I realize this has been a seemingly endless wait,” he said.
The search for the baby was massive, with 500 people from 26 agencies and community organizations scouring the dump for 53 days, prosecutors said. Searchers, including staff from Community College of Aurora and the city of Aurora, spent about 19,300 hours digging through 2.5 acres containing 13,000 tons of solid waste looking for the boy. Working 12-hour shifts at a cost of approximately $10,000 per day, crews sorted through more than 1 million square feet before finding the remains, prosecutors said.
Searchers found the body May 30.
Page, who previously lived in Aurora, according to media reports, is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing July 20. At the hearing a judge is expected to rule whether there is enough evidence for her to stand trial.
Reach reporter Brandon Johansson at 720-449-9040 or bjohansson@aurorasentinel.com