About a year after the disappearance of Dulce María Alavez, investigators, who have not stopped looking for her since September 16, fear that she was probably kidnapped by someone who was trying to kidnap a girl and took the opportunity.
"It was broad daylight, the mother was distracted for a short period of time and Dulce and her brother were far enough away, so the criminal felt it was his opportunity to take Dulce and that is what he did," said the FBI Special Agent Daniel Garrabrant in an interview with NJ Advance Media.
"If he was looking for a child to take him, it was where the children are," added the agent, "that is one of the reasons why we believe that his target was a minor but it may not necessarily have been Dulce."
In his opinion, video surveillance cameras from homes and businesses near the New Jersey park where the minor's trace was lost could have captured images of the vehicle of the girl's kidnapper, who turned 6 on April 25.
[The mystery of Dulce María grows: the girl is still missing, they are all suspects and there is only one video]
The mother, Noema Alavez Pérez, 19, took the girl to Bridgeton City Park in New Jersey on September 16 with her brother, 3, and another 8-year-old boy from the family. He let her walk with her brother to a playground, ice cream in hand, while she stayed in the car with the other boy to help him do his homework.
About 10 minutes later, according to her account, she found her son crying, with ice cream on the ground, and no sign of the girl. "I thought I was just playing hide and seek, I was playing in the woods," he explained. When he could not find her, half an hour later he contacted the police to report the disappearance.
Outrageous racist comment from teacher after the disappearance of Dulce María
Sept. 26, 201900: 32According to statements by Garrabrant, who leads the FBI team investigating the kidnapping of children on the East Coast, the kidnapper could have parked across the street from the park and waited.
"The intention of the person might not have been to take a child," he says, "maybe he could have gone to see the children because that's what he liked, and the opportunity presented itself and he did what he did," he said. the agent, who works under the assumption that Dulce María "is still alive", in the absence of evidence to suggest otherwise.
Investigators have spent thousands of hours sifting through surveillance video from area homes, buildings and businesses in search of a suspicious vehicle. At the moment almost all the cars have been discarded except for 10 to 12 because the plates are not clearly seen in the captured images.
"We believe that, in all likelihood, we have a suspicious vehicle on video somewhere," Garrabrant stressed.
[Dulce María Alavez's family publishes home videos of the minor to help her search]
Regarding the possible suspect, the investigators indicated at first that she could have been kidnapped by a thin man, probably Hispanic, with orange tennis shoes, red pants and a black shirt, who would have lured her to a red truck with tinted windows, although they still do not a "clear suspect".
They disclose the image of the suspect in the disappearance of the girl Dulce María
Oct. 16, 201900: 36The girl was wearing a yellow shirt, black and white checkered pants and white sandals when she was last seen. Any clue about her whereabouts can be communicated by phone 856-451-0033 or through tip41 with the code "Bridgeton".
Until Garrabrant's remarks, the most recent investigation focused on anonymous letters that arrived last March with alleged leads about the investigation to two companies and an Ohio state library.
A scribbled message on a card sent to a casino and racetrack in Austintown Township triggered a dog and drone search of a wooded area in the area, but returned no results.
The family also received a letter from Cleveland (Ohio) with seven pieces of paper with illegible phrases.
It was hardly possible to decipher some words, according to the family: "Alaska", Mexico "," border "," 1776 "," civil war "," New England town "or" children's homes orphanages. " According to the family, it looked like a child's handwriting, and it was familiar to them in some way.
In recent months they have received many messages through social networks from people who claim to have paranormal powers and information about the girl, for example through visions of her whereabouts. A group of citizens even tracked down a field behind the girl's school from one of those clues, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, the community is preparing to remember the girl at an event scheduled for September 13, reported this weekend Jackie Rodríguez, who has acted as a spokesperson for the family, in a Facebook post that will feature a motivational speaker and later a vigil will be held.