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Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
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Profile |
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Name: Aaron Cody Stepp
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Age at Disappearance: 3 |
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Age Now: 15 |
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Height: 3'2" |
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Weight: 39 lbs. |
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Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Blond |
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Eyes (Color and Correction): Blue |
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Wanted for :
Missing |
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Location(s) |
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Last Seen : Unkown |
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Possible Location : Bellefonte, PA
There was an unconfirmed citing of Aaron Cody Stepp in Bellefonte, PA on July 12, 1997, four months after he disappeared.
The boy was with two adult females and two other young children. |
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Last Known : Columbus, OH
Cody was living with his aunt and grandma in Columbus, OH when he disappeared. |
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Traits |
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Case Story |
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Missing Three Year Old |
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Aaron Cody Stepp, who went by Cody, was too young to understand the hardships that he had already endured. Cody's mom, Robyn Stepp, was arrested when Cody was just a few months old. She was sentenced to serve 17 months for two theft convictions.
Because Robyn was in jail, her sister, Mickey Stepp, got legal custody of the little boy. Also living with Mickey and Cody in their Columbus, Ohio home was Janice Stiles, Robyn and Mickey's mother. According to police, Mickey and Janice were not exactly doting caretakers. Police say that they used to give Cody away to different people for 2-3 weeks at a time, just so they could have a break from the child.
On March 11, 1997, Mickey and Janice called the police to report little Cody missing. Mickey had gone grocery shopping, and said that she thought Janice was watching Cody. But Janice said she thought that Cody went with Mickey. And both claimed that the last time they remembered seeing him was playing in their neighbor's backyard. |
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Something Wasn't Right About This Situation |
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When police searched the house looking for clues in Cody's disappearance, they didn't find anything that helped them. Something else they didn't find was any sign of Cody ... or any sign that he had ever lived in the house at all. There were no toys, and the few clothes that were there, were not big enough for a boy Cody's age. Just as strange ... there were no pictures of Cody above the age of two years.
Cops found this very suspicious, and began questioning neighbors and relatives about little Cody. Neighbors said they hadn't seen Cody in nearly a year. All of his relatives said they hadn't seen him in at least eleven months. Cody's own mother hadn't even spoken to him recently. Robyn said she last saw her son in December 1995. And when she tried to call Cody from prison, Mickey and Janice wouldn't let her talk to her own son.
In fact, the only two people who claimed to have seen Cody in the past eleven months were Mickey and Janice. This was when cops say they grew suspicious of the duo ... and also when the aunt and grandma who reported Cody missing stopped talking with police. And since the initial interview, the seemingly concerned pair never contacted police to see if they had made any progress in finding their little boy.
When looking into the Stiles-Stepp family, police began to see a horrifying picture. Detective McCoskey told AMW that Janice Stiles, Cody's grandmother, raised her family in a matriarchal society, where men were virtually worthless. One of Janice's kids even testified against her in court, saying that Janice was an abusive mother. Cops also say that Janice was a pimp ... and she used her daughters as her working girls. When Janice's daughters were as young as 12 and 13-years-old, they were whored out by their own mother.
Detectives also learned of a suspicious death in Janice's home ... that of her own child. Records show that Janice's two-year-old daughter, Tennie, died in 1964. The cause of death was listed as bronchitis, but decades later, cops don't believe that was the true cause. They allege that Janice might have killed the little girl, who had third degree burns all over her body. Cops say she was never taken to the hospital, and died as a result of her injuries. Saying that reading the autopsy report of the young girl is completely sickening and disturbing, detectives today don't understand why she wasn't charged with murder then, but that it's too late to do so now. |
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Twisted Theories |
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So what do Columbus police think happened to Cody? One Columbus Detective told AMW that he believes Cody disappeared at the hands of Mickey and Janice. He also believes that Cody had been gone for almost a year before he was reported missing. In fact, they believe that the only reason that Mickey and Janice even reported Cody missing was because Robyn was getting out of jail the next day. And they had to be able to tell her something when she came home and her son wasn't there.
Columbus detectives aren't the only ones who think that Mickey and Janice are behind Cody's disappearance. Even Robyn Stepp believes this. Cody's devastated mother accused her own family of having something to do with her son's disappearance.
One of the theories held by police is that Mickey and Janice killed him, or that someone else did. Robyn thinks Cody is dead. She tried to have Cody legally declared dead. But the judge wouldn't grant her motion, citing inconclusive evidence.
But cops say it is also very possible that Cody is still alive. And if alive, police allege that Cody's aunt and grandma sold him. They think that Cody could have been sold into a human trafficking ring, possibly even for child pornography, at the tender and innocent age of two.
There is reason to believe he's alive. On July 12, 1997, there was an unconfirmed sighting of Cody. A witness saw a boy fitting Cody's description at DeFluri's Restaurant on Benner Pike. The boy was with two females and two other kids. One of the women was white, with dark medium length hair. he was between 30-40 years old and 130 pounds. The other woman was of Asian descent and had very short hair. She was in her late teens or early 20s, wore dark framed eyeglasses and full length jeans or denim shorts.
Unfortunately one of the few people who knew what really happened to Cody died. His Aunt Mickey died of natural causes in 2004. She maintained her innocence through the end. But cops still say that Janice Stiles is a suspect in Aaron Cody Stepp's disappearance. And they want your help bringing him home. |
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