Posted on May 19, 2012.
Police refused to release details on the arrest, or even say if the suspect was a man or a woman. Police said details would come once the prosecutor has a chance to review the case. Police are calling the death a homicide.
Dasher had told police on Tuesday that she woke up to find the boy missing from her home in Affton, in the 7700 block of Clevedon Street. The boy's body was discovered at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday just blocks from the house by people taking a walk at the edge of the New St. Marcus Cemetery near River Des Peres Boulevard.
Police worked overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Those interviewed included the boy's mother, father and grandmother.
Police said Shelby Dasher told them she put Tyler to bed about 10:30 p.m. Monday and overslept Tuesday morning. She reported the child missing to police after she awoke about 11 a.m.
The break came Wednesday morning. At 5:42 a.m. Wednesday, St. Louis County police issued a news release, saying that one person has been taken into custody. Police said that person hasn't been formally booked and gave no further details on the suspect.
By 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, police were taking Shelby Dasher in an unmarked police car to the spot where the boy's body was found at the edge of a wooded cemetery near the River Des Peres. They then were heading to the home in Affton for a brief visit. Television news helicopters hovered overhead, even tracking the police car as it headed to Clayton where the jail is located.
Officials have not released how the boy died.
Police said Tyler's mother and grandmother were the only adults in the house Monday night and Tuesday morning, and that Tyler's father lives elsewhere in the St. Louis area. Police said there was were no signs of a break-in at the home and nothing awry inside.
The boy's father is Joe Ellington. In April, Ellington's parents were appointed his co-guardians by a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge because he was judged to be incapacitated or disabled.
Police would not discuss the condition of the body. The dog walkers, visibly shaken, did not talk to reporters at the crime scene Tuesday afternoon.
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch told reporters on Tuesday that whoever is responsible for the child's death must be "a sick person."
"Anyone that would take a child into a wooded area like this needs to be dealt with severely by the criminal justice system," he said.
Nicole Howard, a cousin, described Shelby Dasher as a dedicated parent. "Shelby takes very good care of her son," Howard said. "She loves him."
St. Louis County police issued a SARAA alert (St. Louis Area Regional Amber Alert) Tuesday afternoon for Tyler. Soon after, police began searching the Affton area for the missing toddler.
River Des Peres Boulevard was closed to traffic at Gravois Avenue as police investigated. Crime scene tape cordoned off some of the cemetery's headstones.
A witness told police he saw a man walking with a child wrapped in a blue blanket along a street near Rogers Middle School, about a mile from the Dasher home, about 12:30 p.m. The man was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and dark pants.
Police showed a blue blanket with images of stars, footballs, baseballs and soccer balls on it that was identical to one that vanished with Tyler. They also showed a set of pajamas to reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Police closed Clevedon Street between Seth and Third avenues and searched the area using dogs, a helicopter and a tactical team.
The block is off River Des Peres Boulevard along the River Des Peres near the St. Louis city and county border.
Several relatives of the boy arrived at the scene Tuesday afternoon crying and consoling each other.
Meagan Mayer, a childhood friend of Shelby Dasher's who showed up at the search scene distraught and sobbing, said Dasher and Tyler's father had no domestic problems. She said she believed Tyler's father would never take him.
Family members who came to the Dasher home said they were not aware of any problems between Tyler's parents.