A weeks-long search for two-year-old Angelo Tobias Plaza, who vanished from his Goodwood, Tobago community in mid-May, has led law enforcement to take a third person into custody, as search teams expand their operation to a local landfill and officials work to counter harmful spread of misinformation on social media.
According to police sources familiar with the investigation, officers acted on new intelligence received Sunday to target two individuals in Goodwood. When authorities arrived at the scene, one man fled on foot and successfully evaded capture, while the second detainee – confirmed to be a relative of the missing toddler – was taken into police custody. Angelo’s 22-year-old mother and 25-year-old stepfather, who were first detained on Friday afternoon, remain in custody at separate stations as interrogations continue.
Senior Superintendent of Police Rodhil Kirk told local media outlets on Monday that new tips led search teams to expand their sweep to the Studley Park Landfill, where heavy equipment and specialized personnel are now conducting a thorough grid search. Kirk emphasized that law enforcement is committing all available resources to the case, and the search will not stop until the family and the entire island of Tobago get the closure they need. “We are being thorough with this investigation as I pointed out from the first day,” Kirk said. “As long as we have the strength we will continue to search.”
Kirk also used the high-profile case to issue a public call for greater community oversight of vulnerable children across Trinidad and Tobago. “It takes a village to raise a child, and we need to adopt that concept or go back to that concept that all of us look out for one another, especially the vulnerable children,” he added.
Angelo was first reported missing on the night of May 11, triggering a massive multi-agency search effort that has drawn in local police, fire and rescue teams, the Tobago Emergency Management Agency, the national Coast Guard, child protection investigators, and homicide detectives. Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander confirmed the coordinated multi-agency response during parliamentary remarks last week. Two volunteer search and rescue groups – Hunters Search and Rescue Teams (HSRT), led by both Vallence Rambharat and Shamsudeen Ayube – have also joined the operation, bringing additional manpower and specialized resources to the search.
Rambharat told reporters Sunday that with support from TEMA, the Tobago House of Assembly, and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), search teams have used an excavator to dig through targeted sections of the landfill, checking numerous pits for any sign of the toddler. Law enforcement has also deployed a specialized human remains detection (cadaver) dog to the site, a K-9 unit trained to identify the unique scent of human decomposition, capable of locating even tiny fragments of bone or blood buried deep under debris.
As the search entered its new phase at the landfill, false claims spread rapidly across social media platforms including WhatsApp and Facebook over the weekend claiming Angelo’s body had been recovered. Ayube, who leads the second HSRT contingent on the ground, moved quickly to debunk the rumors, confirming to reporters that as of 4 p.m. Sunday, Angelo remained listed as an active missing person.
Ayube explained that the false reports likely stemmed from a large police response to the discovery of a decomposing object at the landfill Sunday, which was later confirmed to be the remains of a dog, not a human child. He stressed that the unconfirmed social media posts cause unnecessary pain to Angelo’s family, who continue to hold out hope for the toddler’s safe return.
Currently, search efforts are concentrated on the Studley Park Landfill after investigators received intelligence that Ayube says is 90% likely to be credible. Early in the investigation, search teams focused on a stretch of coastline near where Angelo was last seen, following initial reports that he may have wandered into the ocean. But as the case progressed, Ayube said search teams found inconsistencies between that initial report and subsequent evidence gathered by investigators, including conflicting details provided to authorities by the child’s mother and stepfather. That led teams to shift their focus to the landfill.
The volunteer search organization has no plans to withdraw from the case, Ayube confirmed. “We have been known to have cases open for months or years, until a family gets closure,” he said, adding that the team’s core goal remains either returning Angelo safely to his family or securing the closure they need to move forward.