SAN DIEGO -- The search for little Jahi Turner was sharply curtailed as police wrapped up their weeklong activities at the Miramar landfill and organizers called off a sweep by volunteers of a wide area of the city.

MISSING JAHI TURNER Light-skinned African-American 30 pounds, 30 inches tall Black hair Wearing blue "Winnie the Pooh" T-shirt, blue pants, and gray tennis shoes INFORMATION SDPD Juvenile Hotline: (619) 744-9521 Tip Hotline: (619) 235-8477 Download A Missing Flyer SOUND OFF Share Your Thoughts

The around-the-clock effort to dig up any clues in 2-year-old Jahi Turner's presumed abduction from a neighborhood playground had been under way at the central San Diego dump since last Tuesday.

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It turned up "several items (that) have caught our interest" from within the 5,000-ton mountain of refuse that originated in the area where the boy's family lives, SDPD information officer Dave Cohen said.

"We won't discuss specifically what they are, but we will be evaluating them," he added.

Sunday, the protective suit-clad searchers reportedly found what appeared to be a bath mat with "Winnie the Pooh" and a towel or blanket, 10News reported.

The boy was wearing a T-shirt bearing a drawing of the animal caricature when he disappeared 11 days ago, his stepfather reported.

Tieray Jones, 23, told police he left his stepson at a Balboa Park play area with a woman and two other children for about 15 minutes while he went to a nearby soda machine the afternoon of April 25.

When he returned, Jahi was gone, along with the others, the man reported.

Police have declined to address news reports that Jahi apparently was not where his stepfather said he was the day he went missing or that Jones failed a lie detector test.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that police did not find the boy's fingerprints on recreation equipment in the playground off 28th and Beech streets, where Jones said they had been that Thursday.

Police have continued to appeal to the mystery woman Jones described seeing at the park near his home to come forward and report whatever relevant facts she might know.

The child's mother, Tameka Jones, 18, is a sailor who was at sea when her son disappeared. Her Navy commanders allowed her to immediately return to shore to help in the search.

Her husband, who police say is not a suspect in the case, appeared to faint at a vigil for the missing toddler Saturday night. He recovered and required no medical attention.

The couple made brief public statements Monday, describing the pain of their loss and maintaining that they had nothing to do with Jahi's disappearance.

"Regardless of what anyone may think of me ... I love my son, and I want him back," the stepfather said. "God has really been good to me and my wife. We cannot explain any of the events that have occurred in these past couple of weeks ... but it is Him who has given us strength to even make it this far."

At an impromptu televised news conference Sunday, Jahi's maternal grandmother, Penny Thompson, of Maryland, pleaded for the safe return of the boy and revealed that he requires a prescription skin cream for eczema.

"I am appealing today for the return of my grandson," Thompson said.

In her emotional, occasionally contentious remarks, Thompson asked for money to extend her stay at a local hotel.

She also asserted that the media has "ripped ... apart" the family, and refused to respond to reporters' inquiries about the stepfather's possible culpability in the boy's disappearance.

"I'm not here to blame anyone," Thompson said.

Over the weekend, grassroots efforts to determine what has become of the toddler continued unabated, with his grandmother publicly pleading for his safe return.

A silent auction fund-raiser took place yesterday to aid in the search, which has gained widespread local and national notoriety and near-constant media coverage.

Jahi's biological father, Tramane Sampson, arrived Saturday from Maryland to help in the search.

The SDPD offered thanks this morning to the city's Environmental Services Department for its assistance in the operation, and praised several unnamed local companies "that stepped up and donated equipment and water."

The department also expressed gratitude to scores of area Marines and sailors who donned protective gear and helped scour reeking mounds of trash for days in an attempt to help reach a resolution in the case.

"In a four-day stretch, 383 military personnel volunteered to participate in the search," Cohen said. "They donated a combined 3,064 hours. The search would have taken much longer without them."

Jahi is a 2 1/2-foot-tall, light-skinned African American who weighs about 30 pounds.

At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a blue, long-sleeve "Winnie the Pooh" T-shirt, blue nylon pants with an orange drawstring and gray Michael Jordan tennis shoes, according to his stepfather.

Police urged anyone with information concerning Jahi's whereabouts to call the SDPD's Central Division "juvenile hotline" at (619) 744-9521, or San Diego County Crime Stoppers' anonymous tip service at (619) 235-8477.