Amber Alert: Search for 5-year-old girl possibly abducted by man in red van enters 4th day
The search for a missing 5-year-old girl believed to have been abducted from a New Jersey park while playing with her younger brother has entered its fourth day.
An Amber Alert was issued following the disappearance of Dulce Maria Alavez on Monday, prompting a massive search effort assisted by local, state and federal authorities, as well as concerned citizens throughout the area, NJ.com reports.
Dulce was at Bridgeton's City Park around 4 p.m. with her mother, Noema Alavez, her 3-year-old brother and an 8-year-old relative when the abduction allegedly took place. The missing child and her brother were on the playground as her mother and the older relative watched from a vehicle parked nearby.
Photo: Bridgeton Police Department
Alavez said her son returned to the car in tears without his sister, prompting her to scour the park and surrounding area for her daughter. When she could not locate the child, she called her brother for help and then alerted local authorities, according to NJ.com.
Investigators say Dulce may have been taken by a light-skinned white or Hispanic male, around 5-foot 6-inches tall, who was wearing orange sneakers, red pants and a black shirt at the time of the abduction.
The suspect may have lured Dulce into a red van with tinted windows and a sliding rear passenger-side door before driving off with the missing child, who was wearing a yellow shirt with a koala bear on the front, as well as black and white pants, when she was last seen.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to call 911 or contact the Bridgeton Police Department at 856-451-0033.
