INDIANAPOLIS (June 2, 2015) – A protective order filed by the mother of missing three-month-old baby Janna Rivera alleges the woman’s boyfriend repeatedly abused her.
It also claims the man buried the baby currently at the center of a massive search across Indianapolis.
Indianapolis Metropolitan police continued their search Monday after combing through a landfill over the weekend. They have not yet found the baby’s remains. The child is presumed dead.
According to the order filed Monday by the child’s mother, she’d left her boyfriend, Jeffrey Fairbanks, at home with her children while she was at work. When she returned home, Fairbanks wasn’t there, according to the protective order. “He said she’s dead, when he came home, and he had buried her,” she wrote in the protective order.
IMPD confirms the woman told them about Fairbanks’ claim concerning burying the child. They searched a location southeast of Indianapolis in Shelby County but didn’t find anything.
The order said the abuse against her started two years ago and that Fairbanks had a violent episode about every month. She didn’t know exact dates because “there have been so many incidents.” She said he has pushed and choked her in the past.
“I believe he is a threat to my safety,” she wrote. “I did not call the police in the past because of his threats. He always made me afraid,” the protective order said. “I need this order to protect myself and my children.”
This isn’t the first time Fairbanks has been accused of domestic violence. According to court documents in Hendricks County, he faces a domestic battery charge in connection with a 2013 case involving his then-wife.
She also detailed ongoing abuse by Fairbanks, saying in May of 2013 he attacked her in the couple’s master bathroom.
“Jeffrey grabbed her hair several times and banged her head on the wall approximately six times,” an officer in that paperwork said. “He hit her in the forehead and cheek with (a) handgun then grabbed her face and pointed the gun near her mouth.”
Neither of them women alleged abuse of their children by Fairbanks.
Police say Fairbanks is believed to be the last person to see baby Janna alive, but he has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. He has told multiple versions of his story to detectives and various news outlets, including telling a FOX59 crew that the baby died of SIDS.
“The varying stories out there, in our opinion, are speculation at this point. … To have differing stories out there, obviously is concerning, but our detectives are following through on every one of those,” IMPD Lt. Richard Riddle said.
Riddle said the conflicting stories and information only adds to the urgency to find the baby. If you have any information, you are urged to call 911 or CrimeStoppers at (317)262-TIPS.
“We will never stop looking for baby Janna. As long as credible information comes in, we’ll follow up on that information,” Riddle said.