http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/abduct...urs-before-mother-found-dead-police-1.2984848
Calgary police say that a missing five-year-old girl was last seen with an unidentified man on Monday about nine hours before her mother was found dead in her basement apartment, and there’s hope that whoever abducted the child does not plan to harm her.
Witnesses told police that they saw a child matching Taliyah Leigh Marsman’s description walking with “a stocky, black male” around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. The child was seen carrying a reddish-coloured suitcase and wearing red or pink boots with white polka dots, police said.
Calgary police major crimes Insp. Don Coleman said that the suitcase could be a sign that whoever took Taliyah intends to care for her.
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Police found Taliyah’s mother, Sara Baillie, 34, dead in her basement apartment around 8:30 p.m. Monday night after she didn’t show up to work at an airport restaurant and her family contacted police. Police issued a Canada-wide Amber Alert for Taliyah at approximately 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday, and the young girl remained missing on Wednesday.
Coleman said the stocky black male and the girl resembling Taliyah were seen in the same area where Baillie’s car was later found.
“We believe that is a good possibility that that’s Taliyah and an unknown male, so we’re chasing down leads on that … we believe walking away from the victim’s vehicle, potentially,” he said.
Police are considering the possibility that Taliyah could be outside the Calgary area or the province, but Coleman said investigators have “no information that that’s actually the case.”
The new information has allowed police to narrow down the focus of their investigation, but officials have yet to name a suspect in Taliyah’s disappearance or Baillie’s death.
On Wednesday, investigators determined that Baillie’s death was a homicide. Police said they will not release her cause of death.
Calgary police also released security camera footage from Sunday of the mother and daughter at a Calgary-area Dairy Queen. The footage appears to show Baillie speaking with an unidentified family inside the restaurant, and police have released images of the encounter in hopes of reaching the family.
Missing girl’s father speaks out
Taliyah’s father released a statement on Wednesday begging whoever abducted his daughter to bring her back home.
Colin Marsman thanked Calgary police for searching for his daughter and offered condolences to Baillie’s family.