DNA evidence received by investigators in Rainn Peterson disappearance case but no resolution

Staff report

WARREN

Investigators continue to work the Rainn Peterson missing-person case, four months after the toddler was found safe a short distance from her North Bloomfield home.

Trumbull County Sheriff Tom Altiere said Friday investigators received DNA results from one item connected with the case, though he would not disclose what kind of item or where it was found.

Investigators don’t yet know who the DNA comes from, but Altiere said he has a suspect in mind. “I have a person in mind [that] I think did it,” he said.

Altiere has said he believes someone took the girl and then brought her back.

The girl, then 26 months old, was missing for about two days in cold and wet weather before being found in a field about a half-mile away from where she lived with her grandparents. She was wet and dehydrated but otherwise OK.

Investigators collected the clothing the girl was wearing when she was found, and that eventually will be submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Altiere said.

Samples are being handled methodically to make sure the results are correct, Altiere said.