Investigators searching for a little girl who disappeared from a Bridgeton park more than 11 months ago believe she was likely abducted by someone looking for an opportunity to take a child.
They also believe surveillance videos harvested from the area could show the abductor’s vehicle.
Dulce Maria Alavez was 5 when she
vanished during a family outing to Bridgeton City Park on the afternoon of Sept. 16, 2019.
Her mother had taken her kids to the park and remained in the car while Dulce and her 3-year-old brother, Manuel, ran to a playground 30 yards away. Minutes later, Dulce’s mother said she walked to the playground and found only Manuel. Dulce was gone.
The FBI quickly joined the investigation and an Amber alert was issued. While authorities have been reluctant to share many details, a lead investigator on the case recently shed new light on what may have happened during an interview with NJ Advance Media as the anniversary of her disappearance approaches.
“If you are looking for a child to take the child, you go where children are,” said FBI special agent Daniel Garrabrant. “That’s one of the reasons that we believe that the target was a child, but it may not necessarily have been Dulce. We’ve had cases like this across the country where offenders go to places where children are and they would have access to children and they wait for the opportunity.
“In this case, it was broad daylight, mom being distracted for a short period of time and Dulce and her brother being far enough away, that the offender felt like it was an opportunity for him to take Dulce and leave with her and that’s what he did.”
abcnews.go.com
