Mother of missing toddler indicted

The case against the mother of a Columbia toddler missing for five months will go to trial as the result of a grand jury indictment Thursday afternoon.

Zinah Jennings was indicted on a single count of unlawful neglect of a child, according to a 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office press release. If convicted of the felony, she faces up to 10 years behind bars.

The charge stems from the disappearance of her son, Amir, who was 18 months old when he was last seen more than five months ago. Jennings’ mother has said that her daughter is mentally ill and doesn’t know where the child is.

Jennings, 23, has been held at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center since Dec. 29 on the charge, unable to post a $150,000 bond. Hemphill Pride II said Thursday his client’s indictment didn’t come as a surprise, but he plans move to have the charge dismissed by a judge.

“I think they had to stretch to get this indictment,” he said.

Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott said that the indictment shows that his department made the right call in charging Jennings. Further charges couldn’t have been brought against the woman, he said, because they have no indication of Amir’s well-being.

“I don’t want a murder case,” Scott said Thursday. “I don’t have anything to say he is alive, but I don’t have anything to say he’s no longer with us.”

Both Amir and his mother were originally reported missing in early December by family members. Jennings was discovered Dec. 24 when she wrecked her Dodge Neon near Millwood Avenue and Lady Street in Columbia. Jennings, according to a warrant, had last been seen Dec. 6.

Jennings gave several differing accounts of Amir’s whereabouts following the wreck. She initially told hospital workers she did not have a child, and later told police the boy was with her sister in Atlanta and with friends in Charlotte and Columbia. She was arrested after none of her stories checked out.

Jennings was determined to be mentally ill by a court-ordered mental health professional after she was arrested, Pride said.

“They were talking to someone who is mentally ill,” Pride said of investigators. “They can’t expect to rely on her for information.”

Scott said that investigators don’t have any new leads, but the search for Amir is not a cold case.

Since the boy went missing, police have looked in the woods in the northern part of the city, searched Jennings’ mother’s home with cadaver dogs and collected DNA samples. Forensic teams tested clothes and blankets in her car smeared with what appeared to be blood, but results haven’t been made available.

Scott said he is holding out hope for the well-being of Amir, who would be just over 2 years old now.

“I don’t have anything that says he is harmed, and we don’t have anything that is OK,” he said. “We want to make sure that we do everything we can.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Mother of missing toddler indicted."