GRAND RAPIDS -- After a frantic week filled with worry and tragedy, the unsettling case surrounding the disappearance of 2-year-old Jozlynn Martinez is in a seeming state of suspended animation.

In a West Side home, Jozlynn's young mother, Consuela Martinez, clings to a shred of hope that her daughter is alive despite what police say, based on the alleged statements of Jeffrey Malmberg.

Malmberg, 40, remains in a Kent County Jail cell charged with kidnapping the girl. He sticks to his story to police that Jozlynn died inside the home Monday night, and he inexplicably disposed of her body in a trash Dumpster Tuesday not far from her crib housed on Nagold Street NW before fleeing to Lansing.

More than 70 Grand Rapids Police Department personnel combed through a virtual mountain of trash taken from Dumpsters in the area but found nothing -- leaving open the possibility that the contents of the dumpster where he may have put the toddler were processed through the county's trash incinerator.

COMPLETE COVERAGE Complete coverage of the disappearnce of Jozlynn Martinez

Grand Rapids police continue to investigate Malmberg's claims but have finished searching the trash, Lt. Ralph Mason said.

"We won't quit until we get a resolution," Mason said Sunday of the department's investigation. "If we get information that leads somewhere, we will pursue it."

Martinez continues to hope against hope that her daughter lives. She has a 7-month-old son -- born as a result of her relationship with the homeless Malmberg, who is currently in state custody.

The 21-year-old wants to see the Amber Alert reinstated for her 2-year-old but, after a frustrating jailhouse meeting with Malmberg Saturday night, she is less anxious to deal with the media.

Martinez filled in the story Sunday saying Malmberg claimed the child fell down the stairs and he "panicked" and instead of calling for help, he placed the baby in a trash bin.

She said she wants to believe her daughter is alive but doesn't know why Malmberg would be leading the police on some kind of wild goose chase.

"He's been telling the same story every time," said Martinez. "I have no clue."

In the meantime, the biological father of Jozlynn, John Mark Rittenhouse, is making his way to Michigan from Arizona, where he has been living for a short time, according to a friend of Rittenhouse there.

E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@grpress.com