Silas Anthony Ojeda, born August 28, 2015, was 13 months old and living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, at the time of his disappearance. His mother, Rhiannon Ojeda, told investigators she last saw him on October 22, 2016, before leaving for work, at which time Silas was in the care of her boyfriend, Logan Hunter Rogers. Rogers gave investigators several conflicting accounts of what happened to the child, eventually stating that Silas fell from a counter at the home on October 20, 2016, hit his head, and died the following day after a seizure; Rogers said Rhiannon was present and that the two did not seek medical care. Rogers told police he wrapped Silas's body in a white comforter and placed it in a trash bin near Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Cheyenne. Silas's grandfather, Richard Ojeda, reported him missing on October 26, 2016, after Rhiannon told him a man had taken her son and not returned him. Silas is Biracial (Black/Hispanic), with black hair and brown eyes; at the time of disappearance he was 2'5" and 18 pounds.
The Laramie County Sheriff's Office led the investigation, assisted by cadaver-dog teams and dive teams. The trash bin Rogers described had already been emptied by the time investigators arrived, but cadaver dogs indicated the scent of human remains in the bin and in Rhiannon's car, and investigators reported unspecified biological evidence at the Ojeda home. A search of more than 3 million pounds, and later up to 127 million pounds, of landfill waste in Ault, Colorado — where Cheyenne's municipal trash is hauled — did not locate Silas's remains; the landfill search was called off after roughly 10 days. Subsequent dive-team and cadaver-dog searches of a pond and manure pile at LCCC also came up empty. Rogers was charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangering with a controlled substance; a related charge involving Rhiannon was dropped, and she was arrested but released without formal charges, with authorities stating they believed she was not present when Silas went missing. In November 2017, Rogers pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and in March 2017 (sentencing) he received the maximum term of 18 to 20 years in prison; he claimed at sentencing that Silas was still alive and that his plea had been coerced. Silas remains classified as an Endangered Missing person and his body has never been recovered. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Laramie County Sheriff's Office at 307-633-4700. Case Number 2016-21432.
