Madeline Buckley

madeline.buckley@indystar.com

The father of a 3-month-old girl who went missing in May 2015 was found not guilty of her murder, but guilty of neglect Wednesday night after a three-day trial, Fox59 reported.

Janna Rivera, or Baby Janna as she was known in the media, was presumed dead after a weekslong search of at least three counties turned up no trace of the girl.

Months after the disappearance, Marion County prosecutors charged her father, Jeffrey Fairbanks, with murder and neglect of a dependent, pointing in an affidavit to the various stories Fairbanks told during the investigation.

Prosecutors began presenting testimony Monday after selecting a jury. The attorneys delivered closing arguments Wednesday afternoon.

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Multi-county searches for baby Janna turn up no new leads

Janna's mother, Yolanda Rivera-Gonzalez, called 911 on May 29, 2015 to report her daughter missing. She told police the girl's father was watching the girl while she was at work.

Fairbanks first told police he couldn't remember anything about the day his daughter disappeared. Then, he said, "I don't wanna go to jail," a probable cause affidavit said.

Eventually, he told detectives he would lead them to the body, the affidavit said, and he took them to a dumpster at an apartment complex on the northeast side. The dumpster was empty, though, leading police to search landfills to no avail.

Detectives questioned Fairbanks, who said he woke up at 5:30 a.m. that day because the child was crying. He said he "muffled" her with a pillow, but denied putting pressure on the pillow, the affidavit said.

The case bears similarities to the Baby Delano disappearance, which also triggered a frantic search in August 2014 for a baby eventually presumed dead. Delano Wilson was never found, and prosecutors charged his father, Willie Wilson, with murder in the 6-week-old's death.

But prosecutors faced a challenge bringing a case without an autopsy to prove Baby Delano was murdered. A jury found Wilson not guilty in October.

Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.