Body Found; May Be Missing Boy

The body of a small boy partially covered by debris was found Tuesday afternoon about 400 yards from where a 2-year-old Mission Viejo toddler disappeared Monday morning, authorities said.

“The body matches the general description of [the missing boy],” said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson. “At this time we don’t know the cause of death.”

Wilkerson said the death is being investigated as a homicide.

Investigators are questioning Edith Marie Wu, 30, the mother of Cecil “C.T.” Turner; his stepfather, Feilong Wu, 26; neighbors, and others in the area about the disappearance, but Wilkerson emphasized Tuesday night that the parents are not considered suspects.

The couple’s apartment also will be searched again as “part of the procedure,” he said.

An El Toro Marine helping in the two-day search for C.T. saw the body about 3:30 p.m. on a heavily wooded slope about 15 feet from the rushing waters of Oso Creek. The Marine was searching an area just north of where scores of volunteers left off early Tuesday, authorities said.

The parents told investigators that blue-eyed, towheaded C.T., dressed only in a diaper, slipped out of the family’s apartment in the 24900 block of Via Florecer between 8 and 8:45 a.m. Monday while his mother slept and his stepfather was jogging.

The mother said she discovered C.T. missing when she was awakened by her 4-year-old daughter Bryttnie and found the front door ajar.

After the mother’s frantic emergency call, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, neighbors and bloodhound teams scoured the area around the 160-unit Villa Marguerite complex throughout the day and night, digging into trash cans and the dense brush along the creek.

On Tuesday, waves of up to 100 volunteers at a time--women with strollers, children on bicycles, 50 Marines and sheriff’s deputies on horseback--searched for the toddler in the dizzying heat. Neighbors set up a card table with ice water as the temperature soared.

Lisa Bogan of Mission Viejo, who lives nearby, was alerted by a circling helicopter Monday and wound up searching until 4 a.m. On Tuesday, she and her daughter, Icedra, 11, drew a crowd by arriving with cold oranges, water and ice.

About 2 p.m., searchers found a diaper along the creek, but it was unclear whether it had belonged to C.T.

When the news came that a body had been discovered, a pall fell over the group of sweaty volunteers. They clustered outside a barrier of yellow plastic police tape, many unable to leave while the body remained unidentified.

James Renne, 32, of Mission Viejo looked shocked as word spread that a body had been discovered.

“It sent chills through my spine,” Renne said. “I was hoping to God it wasn’t going to be the little boy. But it appears it is.”

Renne, his wife Gina, and his 7-year-old daughter had searched until 3 a.m. Tuesday. Nine hours later, they came back with enough water for all the volunteers.

“I have a 7-year-old daughter,” Renne said. “This kind of thing kind of touches the heart.”

As the search progressed Tuesday, the Wus huddled with sheriff’s investigators at a substation.

It was a tragic new start for the couple, who had moved to Mission Viejo three weeks ago from Austin, Texas.

In mid-May, Feilong Wu, who came to the United States in 1993, became a diving coach with the Mission Viejo Nadadores Diving Team, according to Ann Vincent, a team spokeswoman.

In his native China, Wu was a national diving champion and World University Games gold medalist, according to his Nadadores biography. He coached at the University of Texas in Austin prior to joining the Nadadores, Vincent said.

Wu, who was chosen from 100 applicants, has been working without pay while he is waiting for work papers and he and his family have been supported by donations from team members, Vincent said.

“Divers and parents are devastated [about] what has happened,” Vincent said. “He has a lot of support from this team and we’ll do whatever we can to help [him] and his family through this very difficult time.”

Times staff writer Tracy Weber contributed to this story.