LENOX TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Police confirmed to 7 News Detroit that they're currently searching a Macomb County landfill in connection to the case of missing Warren mother Ashley Elkins.
The Roseville Police Department, with help from about a dozen other law enforcement agencies, is leading the search at the Pine Tree Acres Landfill in Lenox Township.
Sources tell us police spent the weekend preparing for today’s dig. They had to remove tons of dirt and cover soil to start excavating a certain area where they hope to recover Elkins’ body.
Deandre Booker, the ex-boyfriend of Elkins, was arrested in connection to her case last week. Investigators said he is the primary suspect.
Last Thursday, Deandre Booker was arraigned on one charge of Lying to a Peace Officer in connection to the case. Prosecutors say Booker made several misstatements to a detective.
VIDEO: Watch the arraignment below:
During the arraignment, prosecutors also said that Booker accessed the internet and searched Google with several questions including the fastest route from Flint to Ohio, what to do on the run, is blood traceable, how to beat a polygraph, and how to delete Google history.
Booker was given a $250,000 cash bond and will be in court later this month.
Elkins, 30, hasn't been seen or heard from since Jan. 2, family said. They've been pleading for her safe return and for the public's help in getting answers. Family said police told them they believe she was murdered by her ex-boyfrend.
Authorities said her ex-boyfriend was arrested in Genessee County by Roseville and Warren police departments.
"The family is obviously very devastated. We're happy to hear about an arrest. But tonight, we met with Roseville and Warren police departments and they indicated to us that based on the evidence that Ashley had been murdered and by the ex-boyfriend at his home, that this likely occurred late (last) Thursday, early Friday," Elkins' uncle Maurice Morton told us Wednesday night. "Hearing that is devastating."
Watch Maurice Morton talk with Carolyn Clifford in the video player below:
Morton said the family is supporting each other during this time.
"We were hopeful that she would be found, but getting the news tonight is just devastating," Morton said.
Elkins' family spoke to reporters following Thursday's arraignment:
"I knew it from Day 1," said Ashley's mother, Monika Elkins. "When I got to her house, it was 8:40. She left at 8:30. I went into the house for a minute, came back out. I texted her. I had a dream of her car being stolen. And she replied back, 'Aw, man," which was weird to me. So I FaceTimed her. She didn't answer. So I said to her just be mindful about your surroundings, pay attention to where you're going and she didn't call back. That's not like her. And she never called back, she never text back. Ever."
Elkins went on to say she believes the "Aw, man' response came from Booker, not her daughter.
Elkins’ last known location was in Roseville, according to police and her family. Multiple police agencies spent hours on Tuesday investigating at the ex-boyfriend’s Roseville home at the Hampton Court Apartments.
Also on Wednesday, officials said there is a “strong possibility” of foul play in the case, “likely occurring” at the apartment complex.
Using a search warrant, officials say they recovered “significant evidence, including forensics.”
They recovered Elkins' silver Chevrolet Malibu in the area of 13 Mile Road and Little Mack Avenue. Officials also seized a trash dumpster at the Hampton Court Apartments on Pinehurst Street near Frazho Road, south of 11 Mile Road.
Watch Chopper 7 video from the Roseville investigation scene below:
"They basically said based on the evidence that was at the apartment, which was substantial and I would assume that was blood evidence. And then also there appeared to have been evidence inside that dumpster, so they hauled that away, they're still analyzing. And so, we know that there will be more evidence to come out eventually," Morton said.
According to family, Elkins left her Warren home on Knox Avenue around 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 2 to run errands. Her younger sister was the last loved one to see her. Elkins' mother Monika stopped by the home but had just missed her.
After speaking with her earlier in the day, Ashley Elkins' family lost contact with her.
"She didn't say anything, which was strange to me and then I said to her, 'well, you know, be careful. Watch your surroundings.' Nothing (from Ashley) after that," Monika Elkins told us on Monday.
Loved ones used the iPhone Find My feature in hopes of finding her. A few hours after she was last seen leaving home, her phone's last location appeared at the apartment complex in Roseville.
"We knew that he had been trying to reach out to her, whether to get back with her, I don't know," Morton told us on Monday.
Hear more from family in the video player below:
However, by the time loved ones drove by the apartment, they said there was no sign of Ashley Elkins, the man, nor her vehicle.
"She has not been in touch with anyone. We're talking about a mother of two children, who are 10 and 7 years old, who loves her children, loves her family. She's always in contact with her family and to not be in contact, not have responded in five days or reached out, that's just uncommon," Morton previously explained.
Elkins is a hairstylist and works out of her home. Family said the man came to her home after making a fake appointment as a client.
"It was him, and (her sisters) were in the house quiet," Monika Elkins told us previously. "She told (her sisters) to be quiet. He knocked on the front door and the side door and he left. And here, it's... days later and she's gone."
Ashley Elkins is described as standing 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-3, a Black woman and weighs 150 pounds.
If anyone knows anything about her disappearance or anything about the case, Warren police detectives want to hear from you. That number is 586-574-4784.
— 7 News Detroit reporter Brett Kast contributed to this report.
