Crime Junkie - MISSING: Dulce Maria Alavez

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

When 5-year-old Dulce Maria Alavez vanishes from a playground in New Jersey, the whole community pitches in to help search for her. But thousands of leads later - and nearly three years after her mysterious disappearance – law enforcement still isn’t sure where she is…or who took her. We’re releasing this episode in English and Spanish in hopes that the Spanish version could help this information reach the right person. Hosted by Melanie and Emmanuel, the Spanish version of this episode is available in your feeds right now!  If you have information about Dulce, please contact the Bridgeton Police at 856-451-0033 or Submit a tip to the FBI. If you wish to submit an anonymous tip you can do so here: bpdops.com/tips To donate to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, visit audiochuck.missingkids.org. To learn more about NCMEC, visit missingkids.org.  For current Fan Club membership options and policies, please visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/. Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/missing-dulce-maria-alavez/

Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And this Wednesday, May 25th, is National Missing Children's Day in the U.S. And it's a day to remember all of the children who are missing while spreading awareness about child abductions and honoring the organizations that work to keep children safe. And one of those organizations that we wanted to highlight is an organization we talk about all the time.

We want to support them. It is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Again, we have talked about a lot of missing child cases on this show and their name has come up over and over again. So we wanted to try and support them in a big way and we wanted to get you all involved as well. Using money that we get from advertising and the fan club, Audio Chuck is already going to be sponsoring one of their big events this year.

But we want to do even more. And that's where you guys come in. There is actually a link in the show notes of this episode and on the website for all of you crime junkies to go donate. And I'm setting a goal for us. I want to set a goal of $100,000. Literally, if each of you just donated a dollar, we would blow that number out of the water in a single day.

Now, the website to donate is audiochuck.missingkids.org. And again, you can find it in the show notes. I have zero doubt we're going to hit that 100,000 goal in like five minutes. But this custom link is going to be valid through the end of the year. So if you're listening to this episode later, donations, any time to this wonderful organization are still welcome. So go right now. It just takes minutes, a minute, make your donation

and you can do it in honor of the missing girl that we're going to tell you about today. A little girl who vanished without a trace from a playground in New Jersey in broad daylight. This is a mystery with more questions than answers. But investigators are sure that someone out there knows something that could help them get to the bottom of it. This is the story of Dulce Maria Alves.

It's Monday, September 16th, 2019. And even though fall is just around the corner, it's a really warm day in Bridgeton, New Jersey. So after school lets out for the day, 19 year old Noema Alves Perez decides to take her two kids and her little sister to the park. It's a little after 4 p.m. when she pulls up to the gravel lot next to some basketball courts at Bridgeton City Park.

Her children, five-year-old Dulce and her little sister and her children, five-year-old Dulce and three-year-old Manuel hop out and race over to the playground right behind the courts while Noema stays in the car with her little sister, Camila, who's got homework to do. Now normally she would follow the kids over to watch them play but on this particular day, she told reporter Claudia Rivera that it was too hot and she was currently pregnant with her third child

so she wanted to stay in the AC. Plus she figures the kids are not far away, like the playground's maybe 30 yards away from her parking spot and it's probably all of it from where she's sitting. I mean, she had played there by herself when she was a kid growing up. Nothing bad had ever happened. And according to what Noema told our reporter Nina, there aren't many people in that area of the park when they get there,

just two young girls and two teenage girls on the basketball court. So the kids basically have the entire playground all of themselves. Right, so it's not like they're gonna, like, get into a fight with another kid or anything. Yeah, or lost in a crowd or whatever. Yeah, it's a safe, easy park day. Right. So Noema is sitting in the car.

She starts scratching off a lottery ticket that she brought with her and between the ticket and helping her sister with homework, it's, you know, five, ten minutes before they really look up again. And when they do, they're startled because they can't see the kids anymore. Now, Noema doesn't panic right away. Her car window is down and she didn't hear anything that would set off alarm bells.

There's also this small hill blocking her view of the swings and even though she knows that the kids are too little to get on them without help, she figures they must be playing in that general area. So she gets out of the car and goes over to look for them. But when she gets to the swings, only Manuel is there. He's crying and the Snickers ice cream bar that she had got him on the way to the park is on the ground. And when she asks him where his sister is,

Manuel points behind some nearby utility storage buildings. Oh my God, this is the moment that every parent drinks. Just not knowing where your kid is when they're supposed to be in a place. I just, oh, it's awful. I literally have this vivid memory from when I was little of my sister who was like hiding in one of those clothes racks at a shopping store and I will never forget. My sister did that all the time too.

What is with sisters? But like, I remember my mom just being in this panic. And like pushing all the clothes in every rack away trying to find her. But honestly, Noema isn't even in that place yet. Like she's not even thinking that something bad had happened yet. Noema thinks that Dulce must have accidentally like knocked her brother's ice cream out of his hand or something. And then now she's hiding because she doesn't want to get in trouble.

Or maybe she's playing hide and seek. So she just walks around the buildings looking for her. But there is no sign of her anywhere. Does Manuel know what happened? Well, she can't ask him because at the time Manuel is nonverbal. So she starts just looking all over the park herself. Now by this time, there are a few more people there. There's a man jogging.

There's another guy walking around. And Noema shows them a picture of Dulce on her phone. Now neither of them had seen her, but one of the teenage girls on the basketball court tells her that she saw Dulce running behind the storage buildings and that around the same time a black male went back in that area too. And she says he probably took Dulce. And that is when Noema starts to panic. So do we know if Dulce would normally go off with a stranger willingly?

Like I know my niece and nephew are incredibly, incredibly like bashful and shy. And like they barely will come to me willingly. But I've also had kids in my experience as a foster parent that will just be like, Hi, I'm your friend. I'm sitting on your lap now. Well, here's the thing. True to her name, Dulce, which means sweet in English. That's what this girl is.

She is super affectionate, always hugging and kissing people that she loves. But she's also shy around people she doesn't know. And she doesn't like to be far from her family. So her mom says that she would never just wander off alone or willingly go with a stranger. Okay. At this point, Noema calls her brother and asks him to bring his pit bull over to the park to help look for Dulce.

Then she calls her mom Norma. After that, at around 4.51 PM, she dials 911. Here's the call, which was first released to New Jersey Advanced Media. Now, where's your emergency? I can't find my daughter. Okay. When was the last time you seen her? We were here at the park.

People said that somebody, probably somebody took her. Okay. How old is she? She's five years old. Okay. And what park are you at? Here in Bridgestone Park. Okay.

Where at in the Bridgestone Park, are you? The one with the basketball court where high school is. Okay. So you're at the basketball courts behind the high school? Yes. Okay. And what was she seeing last learning? She was wearing...

I don't remember what clothes she was wearing, but she was wearing... I just remember her pants. She was wearing like a flowery pants and some heels. Some white heels. Okay. Hi, ma'am. Stand by.

I'm going to transfer you over to the police. Okay. You said she was five, correct? Yes. All right. Hello, ma'am. Hello. Hi, did you see which direction your child went?

You know, we were in the car. She came down with my son. They were running to the park. And then me, my sister, we came down. When we got here at the park, she was in here. They said my son was just crying in the ice cream. Because somebody threw his ice cream in the floor, and my daughter just ran away.

All right. You didn't see anyone else around there that she could possibly have went with? No. No, that I know. Because we didn't saw no one. There's just some other people that they're here that said that they saw her running through some houses in the back.

And they said that they saw two men. They saw a black guy. And they saw a Mexican man with two kids. Who's saying that they saw them? Because there's people here in the basketball court that they saw her. They said that they saw her running. They're saying that there's people there at the basketball court

that they saw her running through some houses with two black males. She liked in Spanish. What color top does she have on? I don't remember. Are you at the basketball court? Yes, I'm right here right now. That's a firm.

She says that she's at the basketball court. And do you have your son with you or is your son? No, I have my son with me. He was crying when we found him. He was just standing there crying. He was standing there crying. So who? You said that the black males took his ice cream?

No, they threw it in the floor. They took his ice cream and threw it on the floor and then they left with your daughter? Probably because I didn't saw it. When we came in and looked for her, we were looking everywhere for her. She said that her son was at the basketball court with her daughter. That there was two black males that took her son's ice cream and threw it on the ground and left with her daughter.

Okay, we have the officers. Are you on Mayor Aiken? I already have an officer here. Okay. All right, we'll speak with the police ma'am, okay? Okay. So I know there's been some talk online about this call and Noema, everyone has been really quick to judge her.

So of course I went to statement analysis blog to see what they had to say. And their conclusion is that Noema is withholding information from the police about her own responsibility and connection with Dulce. She doesn't ask for help for Dulce or express concern over what she might be experiencing. And the blog says there are strong indicators of parental neglect and that Noema seems more concerned with her own status than that of Dulce's. But what I don't think is being taken into account is English isn't Noema's first language.

So I think at least some of the confusion can be definitely contributing to that, right? No, you're so right. And I actually have some specific examples of that. Like when Noema refers to the houses, she was actually talking about those storage buildings. Oh, okay. Also, I guess the 911 dispatcher must have misheard Noema because she describes the guys as two black males

when Noema had said a black man and a Mexican man with two kids. But Noema doesn't even correct her. Right, right. According to New Jersey Advanced Media reporter Matt Gray, law enforcement said that the various descriptions Noema gave 911 came from people in the park who were coming up to her and telling her stuff. So she's just getting a bunch of different information really quickly thrown at her. Well, and on top of that, it's not necessarily her unique information either.

Right, again, she didn't see anything happen. She's just taking information from all these random people. And passing it on. Like you heard on the call, by the time Noema hangs up with 911, the officer is there and the investigation begins right away. Bridgeton Police Chief Michael Gamari told producer Brandon Longo of six ABC Action News Philadelphia that police are optimistic they'll find Dulce. Statistically, that's almost always the case.

But first responders also have their work cut out for them. For one thing, Bridgeton City Park is huge, like 1,100 acres. Oh, wow. Woodlands, waterways, trails, like not an easy place to look for a child, even with the dogs and helicopters with thermal imaging technology that they bring in. I'm going to be honest. I was expecting like the city parks that like we take our kids to that are in like little neighborhoods and stuff like that.

This is like a almost like a state park size. Totally. Plus police estimate that Dulce went missing around 4.20 p.m. which means there's like a 30 minute window between her disappearance and the 911 call and every minute that passes widens the scope of the investigation. While the search ensues, Noema's parents and brother rush to the park. Her mom, Norma, is inconsolable. I mean, Norma is like a mother to Dulce.

In fact, Norma and her husband, Noema's dad, Camilo, are Dulce's legal guardians and both Dulce and Manuel live with them while Noema lives with her boyfriend in a room that they rent nearby. And why doesn't Noema have custody? Well, she was only 14 when she had Dulce. Noema and her mom weren't getting along and when she left home, Norma didn't think that she was responsible enough to care for Dulce on her own. But Noema says that she didn't mind that her parents had custody.

She knew that her daughter was in good hands. And it's not like her parents keep her away or make her stick to a specific visitation schedule. She is able to see the kids whenever she wants. I mean, that's why she had them that day at the park. Anyways, as the search continues, Noema and her family head over to the police station to answer some questions. Noema gives her phone to police who go through text messages and call logs trying to find something that might point them in the direction of someone who might have taken her. So you've mentioned a lot of Dulce's family, but what about her dad?

Is he in the picture? Not actively, no. I mean, in fact, at the time she went missing, her dad, Edgar Perez, was living in Sinaloa, Mexico after being deported. But he did have family in New Jersey and police thought it was at least worth looking at him because at one point he did threaten to fight for custody, even though his involvement seems to have been pretty sporadic in Dulce's life. And ultimately, it seems like it was all kind of talk on Edgar's part

because Noema told us that he never took any step to try and actually get custody before he was deported. And his siblings actually came to the park that night when they found out Dulce was missing. But still, I mean, we know the stats. Oh, totally. It's almost always a family member when a kid goes missing. Almost always is almost an understatement. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, non-family abductions are the rarest type of missing children's cases, only 1%.

Oh, wow. So speaking with Edgar is a major priority and investigators start trying to reach him in Mexico. In the meantime, Noema gives investigators a play-by-play of that Monday. Dulce had just started kindergarten one week earlier, and she actually went to the same elementary school as Noema's eight-year-old sister. And as far as Noema knows, nothing unusual had happened in school that day or in the week prior. Now, school lets out at around 3.30 p.m. and typically, Norma would be the one to get the two girls off the bus.

But that day, she had asked Noema to do it because she was tired. After Noema picked them up, she asked if everyone wanted to go to the park. And the trip was totally spur of the moment, like it wasn't part of their normal routine. So it's not like anyone would have known that they would even be there. Right. And even if someone would have known that they were going to go to the park, they wouldn't have known which one. Because actually, Noema says that she gave the kids a choice.

They could go to Bridgeston City Park, which Dulce calls the big park. Or they could go to a smaller playground near the home, and Dulce wanted to go to the big one. So they make a quick trip home to change into play clothes. Then Noema, the girls, and Manuel head over to the big park, stopping on the way at a Sonoco gas station. And you know what happens from there. But this information, this is something that police can work with.

And they quickly get their hands on surveillance footage from the gas station. And sure enough, they're able to confirm that the family was there at 4.01 p.m. In the video, which was first released to Action News, Dulce seems like the happy, playful little girl everyone says that she is. At one point, she picks up her brother and carries him around, even though she's only about three feet tall and Manuel looks nearly as big as she is. Right. But other than confirming the family was there

and getting a firm description of what Dulce was last wearing, which is this black and white pants with a flower design, a yellow shirt with either a koala or an elephant on it, and white dress sandals, the footage doesn't actually offer much. There's like no one lurking around, no one following Dulce or her family, nothing suspicious at all.

It only takes a few minutes to get from the gas station to the park. And Noemma says that they arrive a little after 4 p.m. The kids like ran off with their ice cream, and that was the last that she saw her daughter. And it's worth noting that police can't even find the cup or the spoon from Dulce's coconut ice cream. So it's not like that was dropped and left the way her brothers was like kicked out of his hand or whatever.

Right. So are there any other surveillance cameras in or around the park? Not in that playground area that Dulce disappeared from, but police interview all of the witnesses they can find. And they do confirm the children were there, although no one reports seeing an abduction happen. By the time Noemma and her family get back to her parents' house that night, everyone is exhausted.

But of course, no one can sleep. Manuel, the only witness to whatever happened, seems kind of sad, but not frightened or anything. He just knows that his sister isn't there and everyone's upset. Noemma is worried, but hopeful. I mean, she has no clue what happened to her daughter, but with so many people looking for her, she is sure that Dulce will be found soon.

Unfortunately, by Tuesday morning, there's still no sign of her. So the search and the rescue mission continues. By now, more than 50 officers from different agencies are involved, and that afternoon, the FBI joins in. According to Matt Gray's reporting, the search has extended to the entire park and the neighborhoods next to it. There's even a dive team that's out checking lakes and waterways. They drain the raceway and an old canal near the playground

that's a mile and a half long. Now, outside of the park, investigators search Norma and Camilo's home multiple times, and police gather surveillance footage from private houses, buildings, the local high school, city ball fields. I mean, anything they can get their hands on that's near the playground. Noemma said that they even set up an ice cream truck with a familiar song playing to lure Dulce back to the area on the off chance that she had just kind of, like,

wandered off into the woods or something. Not gonna lie, that's kind of genius. Yeah, but even though they're pulling out all of the stops, there is one tool police can't use yet, and that's an Amber Alert. The police chief says that they don't have any evidence that Dulce was abducted. Okay, but she's gone. If she wasn't abducted, what do you think happened? They're not sure, and they're not saying she wasn't abducted,

but there's no physical evidence or witness accounts pointing directly to that scenario. No description of a potential suspect. And that's the kind of stuff you need to meet the Amber Alert activation criteria. So bottom line is, until they get some evidence that Dulce was abducted, there is technically no crime. So as of Tuesday afternoon, police are treating this as a missing child investigation. Although in a news release, the chief says that they're simultaneously conducting a criminal investigation. In the meantime, word is out about her disappearance.

Bridgeton is a small, rural city of about 24,000 in Cumberland County, which is in southern New Jersey. And in this area, there's high rates of poverty and violent crime, but stuff like this just doesn't happen in this tight-knit community, which is made up mostly of Latino immigrants, and people are scared. According to an article by New York Times reporter Christina Goldbaum, most of the older residents, including Dulce's grandparents, emigrated from Mexico in the late 1990s. Their children were born in America, but grew up in that same communal atmosphere that their parents knew back home.

You know, kids playing outside on the streets, everyone watching out for one another. And that community comes out in full force for Dulce. The park is packed with family, friends, concerned residents, and volunteers from miles around. But even with all of their support, Noemma is under intense scrutiny. Once the public learns that she was in the car when Dulce went missing, there is immediate backlash and a flood of criticism about her parenting. Rumors are flying that she had something to do with Dulce's disappearance. Even some of her own extended family members accuse her of hiding something.

Oh my God. Plus, police think that she's being way too calm and not nearly as emotional as the mother of a missing child should be, they think. One of the volunteers literally yells at her for eating a slice of pizza. What? Yeah, she says that this woman came up to her and yelled that instead of eating, she should be out looking for her kid. Okay, but humans, even moms of missing kids still need to eat, like even when something terrible is going on. I know, but she's just under a heavy cloud of suspicion right away. And it's not just the court of public opinion.

Police are also wondering why she's not more emotional, like I said, and they're sure that she knows more than she's willing to tell them. But Noemma insists she's not involved in any way. And finally, about 24 hours after Dulce vanished, a suspect emerges. Or at least a description of a suspect. So this description apparently came from one of the witnesses that police had already interviewed, specifically one of the children who was on the basketball court. Wait, why is this happening on Tuesday? Didn't they interview everybody there on Monday? They did.

I'm not totally sure I understand what happened, but from what I can piece together from other reporting by Joseph P. Smith of The Daily Journal and Amir Vera from CNN, is that people in the park were asked generally if they saw anything on Monday night and some gave brief descriptions. And then info was basically vetted and everyone was re-interviewed Tuesday afternoon. And that's when police were able to develop enough of a suspect description to issue a statewide Amber Alert, which they do at 9.53 p.m. According to that alert, Dulce was taken by a light-skinned male, possibly Hispanic. He's described as being five foot six to five foot eight with a thin build, no facial hair, and acne on his face. And he was wearing orange sneakers, red pants, and a black shirt. The alert says that he led Dulce from the playground to a red van with a sliding door and tinted windows.

And he put her in the back seat and drove away with her at around 4.20 p.m. Now, this major development doesn't mean that they're done searching the park. Really, it's the opposite. Rescue crews are there all night and into the next day, but they're also reviewing surveillance footage that they gathered looking for that red van or any sign of Dulce. Now, during this time, the chief says something interesting. He says Dulce's family is cooperating, but he also mentions that there are rumors Noemma orchestrated the abduction. And he says police take everything they hear into account. Now, Noemma had been laying low after that pizza incident in the park, but she speaks candidly with reporters from multiple outlets,

even telling the Philadelphia Inquirer that she's getting criticized because the community thinks she's not, quote, going crazy enough, end quote. She discusses her history with depression and substance use, but she says all of that is behind her. And she's not blind to police suspicion either. She tells Matt Gray that police think she did something to her daughter or that someone in her family is behind Dulce's disappearance. But she insists she does not know what happened. And she says that she would never harm Dulce. And what about her current boyfriend, the one that she lives with? Oh, okay, so get this. So he was apparently on a job site with his boss remodeling a hotel in Philadelphia the day that Dulce disappeared.

So it doesn't sound like he could have been the one who actually took her or anything. But Noemma told us investigators went to Pennsylvania to question him and they found out he was undocumented and he ended up being detained by ICE. Was he only detained because he's undocumented? So one thing that you're going to find with this case is that there's a lot of contradictory information out there about certain details. And this is one of them. Noemma told us that authorities went to talk to him because of Dulce. And the next thing you know, they took him into custody. In some articles, Noemma says that he was only detained because he's undocumented.

In other articles, she says she's not sure. There's an article by Joseph P. Smith that says the boyfriend was held for questioning in Dulce's case at the request of local authorities. So there are multiple stories out there. A spokesman for ICE told reporter Christina Goldbaum that the boyfriend is part of an ongoing investigation, although it's not clear if that investigation is related to Dulce. Whatever the reason, his detainment has some unintended consequences. So undocumented immigrants are often reluctant to share information with police for fear that it could put them on ICE's radar. And Noemma's boyfriend is a reminder of how quickly that can happen. So people become even more afraid to cooperate or give information to authorities.

Now, a few months before Dulce disappeared, the New Jersey Attorney General put a directive in place limiting the type of assistance state and local police can give federal immigration authorities. Because of that, state and local police can't ask someone about their immigration status unless it's relevant. And in Bridgeton, authorities try and reassure the public that witnesses will not be asked about their status. Even ICE weighs in. The spokesman said that they don't target witnesses and undocumented immigrants can cooperate without fear of retribution. Which means if that's true, there has to be some other reason her boyfriend was detained then, right? If you believe them? And understandably, the residents aren't ready to just like take them at their word, even after the boyfriend is released from custody on Thursday, September 19th.

As the search continues that same day, Noemma makes a heartbreaking public plea for her granddaughter's safe return. In Spanish, then in English, she begs the public to come forward with tips and tells them not to fear police. Meanwhile, according to Action News reporter George Solis, bloodhounds tracking Dulce Scent at the park picked up something for about an hour, but then lost it. The next day, investigators launched the biggest search effort yet. According to Joseph P. Smith's reporting, officers from six agencies retraced their steps in the park and pushed out another mile and a half beyond the original search zone. At a press conference that afternoon, officials tell reporters that the reward for information is up to $35,000 and they also fend off more rumors that Noemma had been arrested, which is completely untrue. Noemma's been staying with her parents since Dulce disappeared, avoiding people, even avoiding social media. This shouldn't surprise me, but people are still going after her on social media?

Not even just her. Apparently, just Mexicans in general were under attack. Christina Goldbaum reported that Bridgeton is no longer insulated from the national debate over immigration and the xenophobia that can go along with it. In fact, one of the most glaring examples happens that week. According to an article by Deborah M. Marco of The Daily Journal, someone posted on Facebook asking why Noemma stayed in the car and let the kids play alone. And a local teacher responded, quote, they're Mexican, it's their culture. They don't supervise their children like we do. And quote, yeah, the district pulled her from the classroom once they found out on Friday, September 20th. That is a terrible, disgusting, I can't even.

And was this a teacher at Dulce School? No, she was from the Vineland district, which is also in Cumberland County, but nearly half of the kids in that district are Hispanic. And based on public records, her job was providing in-class resources to special education students in elementary school. I cannot wrap my head around having a person with that sort of mindset around any sort of vulnerable population at all, let alone just kids in general. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. So this just gives you an idea of like the minds of the community and like what Noemma, Norma, like their whole family is kind of operating in. Anyway, the search continues over the weekend as people hold vigils and prayer circles in the park. But that Monday, September 23rd marks a week since Dulce vanished.

And according to NBC 10 reporters, Sydney Long and Brian X. Macron, clues have dried up over the last few days. So the next day, in an effort to spark new tips, the FBI adds Dulce to its list of most wanted kidnapping victims, which pushes her case to the top of the agency's priorities. Oh, and speaking of the FBI, they do finally manage to connect with Dulce's father, Edgar, in Mexico, although authorities don't say what, if anything, they learn from that phone conversation. Cool. So they talk to him, but they can't say anything. Awesome. Right. On Monday, September 30th, two weeks to the day since Dulce vanished, Noemma holds a press conference of her own at the ball fields near the playground. With helicopters circling overhead, Noemma answers questions and asks people to stop spreading rumors about her and her family. She says she's being judged for her past behavior, but she's changed her ways, especially since finding out that she was pregnant again.

She actually found out that she was having a little girl, which was bittersweet for her since Dulce had been hoping for a sister. She tells reporters that Dulce is innocent and, quote, she has nothing to do with the problems we had in the past or people we have trouble. Why her? Why does she have to pay the consequences? End quote. What does all that mean? She doesn't elaborate during the press conference and we asked her about it because it jumped out to me too. And she told Nina that she meant that if anyone was targeting Dulce because they were mad about something she had done in the past, like drinking or smoking or hanging out, she was saying that they should just leave her daughter out of it. But she also says that she never really had problems with anyone and she doesn't think that Dulce's disappearance has anything to do with her.

So I'm still not totally sure why she said that. But I can also imagine in, I hate to imagine it, but in that position, like you would just say anything like I don't like leave her out of it. I don't care if I did something I don't even know about it. Leave my daughter out of it. Yeah. Listen, I mentioned that there's a bunch of contradictory details about this case out there. And some of those contradictions come directly from Noemma. But to your point, it doesn't seem intentional. In our interview with her and the news coverage, I really think it's because of the language barrier.

And to your point, like you're in a stressful situation that you don't have time to like plan out. You never thought you would be in this. Like I don't know what would come out of my mouth. And not to say that you'll say anything to get out of it, but like I would say anything to get my children back in that position. I can't imagine. But even back to the language thing, CBS Philly posted a full video of her press conference and she seems to have trouble understanding some of the questions that she's asked. And with all of the criticism that she's gotten for showing little to no emotion, lots of commenters point out that she does become much more expressive and emotional when she gets to speak in Spanish. And it's true.

When she gets to speak in a language that she's fully comfortable in. Wow. Yeah. Like case in point, it's not until her press conference that the public finds out a detail that they've been hearing since day one is actually not accurate. Police had told the media that about 10 minutes after the kids went to play, Manuel ran back to the car crying. And that's when Noemma realized Dulce was missing. But Noemma says that Manuel never came back to the car. She and her sister went looking for the kids once they realized they couldn't see them anymore.

Right. And that's way more consistent with what she says on 911 call too. Like there's nothing about Manuel coming back to the car. Where did that even come from? Well, police say that Noemma reported it to them and I'm guessing it was a miscommunication. I don't think it's a huge thing, but it is an example of what I'm talking about. All of the earliest coverage includes that narrative. And then there's just this abrupt change to a different story.

So it gets confusing. Anyway, by early October, hundreds of volunteers and more than 300 officers from local state and federal agencies had joined the search. There's a ton of details Chief Gamari won't discuss, but he says Dulce's family continues to cooperate. And police want the community to support them during this difficult time. He also shares a pretty extensive list of steps that they've taken so far. He says that law enforcement has searched over 200 locations by land, air, water. They've processed more than 1000 tips, identified and investigated 500 vehicles and served more than 50 legal documents, including court orders and subpoenas.

Police are still busy checking the alibis of local sex offenders and they're also reviewing a mountain of surveillance footage, tracking down new leads and reexamining older ones. But according to NBC 10, Cumberland County prosecutor Jennifer Webb McRae says that one of the biggest leads police have been chasing might actually be wrong. By this point, police had tracked down a bunch of red vans and come up empty handed. And even though it was the best tip investigators had at the time, it did come from a child. Oh, I did not know that. Yeah, I had mentioned it was someone like on the ball court. So the prosecutor says that she's not disregarding the possibility that a red van was involved,

but she does want people to look beyond that too. Right, like don't get married to this red van idea. Right. And once again, authorities reiterate that undocumented immigrants should not be afraid to provide information. And they say there's even a way to text police anonymously. But even with this and a reward that has grown to $52,000, there is no break in the case until October 15. That's when police put out a composite sketch of a man that they want to speak with in connection to Dulce's disappearance. Police say a witness recently came forward to provide the description.

It is not from the child who gave the initial description listed in the Amber Alert. Now, the chief is quick to say that they're not calling this man a suspect, not even a person of interest. He is a potential witness who was reportedly in the park with one or two children under the age of five around the time Dulce went missing. And he's described as being a slender Hispanic man, 30 to 35 years old, about 5'7", wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and a white baseball style hat. Here, Brick, I'm going to actually show you the sketch that they made. So, looking at this, I mean, the main difference I can tell is that the guy in the sketch does have facial hair, which the Amber Alert suspect didn't. And the clothing doesn't really match, but overall, it seems like he could still fit the description of the Amber Alert guy, like, right down to the acne on his chin. I mean, I don't know. Does Noema recognize him?

No, but remember, in that 911 call, Noema says that someone in the park mentioned a Mexican man with two kids. So, at the very least, again, if this guy exists, he might have seen something. Now, you would think after so much time has passed, maybe the public would let up on Noema, but honestly, the rumors get worse. People are even saying at this point that she sold Dulce, which police questioned her about. But she still swears she has nothing to do with her disappearance, and she even agrees to take a polygraph test, which I did not know this at all, but it's an interesting fact. We know that polygraphs are already, like, meh, reliable, right? Right, not allowed in court, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, well, apparently, there's also a lot of question around whether a pregnant person should be polygraphed at all.

Well, long story short, I read a study from Poland that said there's generally no major difference between the physical reaction of a pregnant person and a non-pregnant person during a polygraph. But it also said that some limitations need to be taken into account, like a pregnant person might be more sensitive to emotions because of hormones. So Noema still goes ahead and takes the polygraph, but we actually don't know what the results were because she says investigators never tell her one way or another. She also told us that she doesn't remember exactly when she took it, although we know it was around this time because she mentions it during an interview with Dr. Phil, which was filmed that fall. Now, that episode airs in early December and features interviews with Noema and a woman named Jackie, who was a family spokesperson for a while. Jackie says that although she doesn't think Noema harmed Dulce, she does think she knows more than she's letting on. She says Noema is just too calm, something we've heard before, so this woman is saying she probably knows Dulce is okay. How is this person, the spokesperson for the family at all at any point in time, one?

But is this like a friend of Noema's who's saying this? Like, that's a really damning statement. No, so they actually didn't know each other before Dulce went missing. Jackie started working with the family to organize events and like help keep the case in the news. And like, again, along the same line, Dr. Phil actually comments on this. He says that he's never worked with a mother who has been as quote, emotionally flat about a missing child as Noema is. Although he does acknowledge that a language barrier might have something to do with her demeanor. Noema tells Dr. Phil that whoever took Dulce was probably someone her daughter knew because she doesn't think that she'd go with a stranger. So Dr. Phil asks her, you know, pick a suspect, like if you had to guess, who would it be? And Noema has someone in mind.

Noema says an old friend of hers comes to mind, a Hispanic guy that she had rejected romantically. So she thinks he kidnapped Dulce to get back at Noema or something? Honestly, it doesn't sound like she really thinks he had anything to do with it. She told us that she was just trying to give Dr. Phil an answer. And she thought of the old friend because she and Dulce ran into him the weekend before Dulce vanished. Although she must have been kind of suspicious of him at some point because she did mention him to police before the show aired. But it doesn't look like anything came from that lead. So it was kind of like a grasping at straws, sort of like he might fit the description. She might go with him. I don't know.

I don't know. Anyway, Dr. Phil offers to kick in another $23,000 for the reward, bringing the total to $75,000. And even with that added incentive, Christmas comes and goes with no sign of Dulce. But as 2019 ends on a quiet note, 2020 starts off with a bang when a self-proclaimed psychic comes forward. She says that Dulce was raped, strangled and buried behind her elementary school. And she knows this because she heard it from Dulce herself. The psychic, whose name is Marcella, uploads a video to her YouTube channel on January 29. And fair warning, the details she claims to have, which she shares in Spanish, are absolutely gruesome. According to reporter Dan Alexander for New Jersey 101.5, the woman says Dulce told her that a man tricked her into getting in his truck by calling her name

and saying that her mother had sent him to get her. She says that Dulce also told her that she was raped twice, once in the truck and again after he choked her to death. Marcella says Dulce's killer buried her in a wooded area behind her elementary school in a shallow grave because tree roots prevented him from digging deeper. The video even includes drawings that the psychic claims Dulce's spirit made. Now, Marcella is not the first psychic to get involved in the investigation, but Dulce's family takes her video message very seriously. And so does the local community. Jackie had been struggling to find weekend volunteers, but once Marcella posts that video, calls come in left and right from people who want to help. And do the police take it seriously?

Well, a crowd of people searched the woods behind the elementary school on Sunday, February 2nd. And according to Matt Gray's reporting, police are not involved in the search. Ultimately, they don't find anything when they do the search. And when police are asked about it, the chief says that they've already checked that area and vetted the school staff. But their absence seems to rub people the wrong way. And there are vocal online critics who don't think the police are doing enough. So a couple of days later, the chief puts out a statement in response to quote some negative social media posts and information posted by psychic investigators. End quote.

He basically says that Dulce's case is still top priority. And even though they haven't found her or know exactly what happened, they have made significant progress overall. He also says that investigators have followed up on several tips from psychics, but only when there's at least a slight connection to the case. And they basically are like, listen, if we chased every tip, we wouldn't have time to pursue legitimate leads. But not even a month later, another unusual lead pops up. This time, more than 400 miles away at a library in Austin Town, Ohio. A library employee opens a letter on February 25th. And she can't read it because it's illegible.

Just a handwritten gibberish. But it's also strange. So according to New Jersey Advanced Media reporters, Alex Napoliello and Rodrigo Torrigan, the employee reports it to police. A detective Googles the phrases that he's able to decipher, including Dulce and Dr. Phil. And of course, the case comes up right away. So he sets the letter aside to send the police to New Jersey. But then a second letter appears at a nearby casino. And this one is at least partially legible.

Here, Brett. It says, quote, look for Dulce Alavez, age five, kidnap from Bridgerton, NJ. 76 truck stop, dead end street, entrance woods. Please look. End quote. Okay. What does that even mean? It's a location, a dead end near a truck stop on 76 Drive in Austin town.

The dead end stops at a security gate, which leads to the casino's racetrack. And the anonymous writer wants someone to go check the surrounding wooded area for Dulce. And listen, while this is totally out of nowhere, it is still a tip. So that weekend, officers searched the acres of snow covered woods around the truck stop. I mean, they even used cadaver dogs on the ground and drones in the sky. But once again, nothing. Then a third letter emerges at a roadside ice cream stand in a nearby Ohio town called Weathersfield. Now, the place is actually closed for the season.

According to Matt Gray's reporting, it was just coincidence that the owner even checked the mailbox on March 2nd, because she normally doesn't when they're not open. The letter she finds mentions Dulce by name, but doesn't say anything about her possibly being in Ohio. And it doesn't lead to any additional searches. But then on March 4th, another letter comes this time to Jackie's P.O. box in New Jersey. There's seven slips of paper filled with scribbled phrases, but again, nothing really specific about Dulce. I mean, since you haven't told me yet, it's probably a long shot. But did any of the letters have return addresses or anything that can help police determine where they're even coming from?

Well, the library letter and Jackie's letter were both postmarked from Cleveland and neither had a return address. The ice cream letter had no postmark or return address at all. There was an illegible return address and no postmark on the casino letter, but police were able to trace the zip code back to a city in Sinaloa, Mexico. Which isn't that where Dulce's father lives? Yeah, but police don't actually think the letter came from there. An Austin town detective says that he thinks all three of the Ohio letters were written by the same person, someone who lives over in that area, because like all the handwriting on all the letters looked similar.

And he says there's no solid evidence that Dulce was ever in Ohio. By now, as you can imagine, Bridgeston police are fed up with the rumor mill and the false leads. The department even vows to charge anyone who knowingly distributes phony tips about the investigation. Things seem to quiet down for a little while after that, especially as COVID sweeps in and months pass by with no update. And it's not until August, right before the one-year anniversary of Dulce's disappearance, that we finally start to learn more about the circumstances of the case. And that's when FBI agent Daniel Garabrant sits down for an interview with Matt Gray. It turns out the FBI does have a theory about what happened.

Investigators think Dulce's abduction was probably a crime of opportunity. The kidnapper might have been in the park either watching children or looking for a child to target, although not necessarily a specific child. And investigators believe that the man in the composite sketch and the man described in the Amber Alert are the same person. Even though there's a discrepancy on facial hair and different clothes. Yeah, so there are differences, but they're not, like, drastic. I mean, overall, it is pretty consistent. Multiple witnesses saw a Hispanic guy around the playground in that important time window.

And unlike a lot of the people in the park around that time, he's never been identified. Investigators say that the abductor was likely a 30- to 35-year-old Hispanic man with acne, who's about 5'8". And they even said he might have been a regular visitor at the park, and he probably acted alone. But didn't they say that the guy in the sketch was reportedly with one or two young children? So if they're the same person, what about the little kids? You know, this is a part that was confusing to me because I couldn't really find anything definitive about that. According to Action News reporters George Solis and Brandon Longo, Wemma had reportedly seen two kids in the park who appeared to be leaving around the same time her kids were getting there.

But she says she didn't see any adults with them. So maybe this is just some big mix-up of descriptions that didn't get all sorted. I don't know. Again, there's been a lot of discrepancies, and this might be one of them. And again, could be due to the language barrier. Well, and I also thought if the suspect is Hispanic and Dulce and Manuela are Hispanic, then it's because I've seen him with both of them, not understanding that they weren't all together. It's true. And then, you know, he had an opportunity to take Dulce later.

I don't know. It's just something that came to mind. Yeah, I mean, I have to imagine, though, that the FBI would have specified if they thought the kidnapper had children with him. Like, I think that would be a big part of the narrative. Oh, totally. Agent Garrett Brent also says that they've spent thousands of hours reviewing surveillance footage looking for a vehicle that might belong to the suspect. It's not possible to leave the park without being picked up on camera. So in all likelihood, they have some footage of the suspect's vehicle. And they've ruled out nearly all of the ones in the footage, except for some where the video quality is low or they can't see a license plate or something.

So what about the red van? Well, he says that it might be a dead end. But in another interview, he tells reporter Claudia Rivera that they did locate a red vehicle matching the Amber Alert description. But after a thorough investigation, they're confident that that particular van was not involved. And according to Macrae's reporting, and like I said earlier, none of the other red van leads panned out. And literally, they looked into, like, thousands and thousands. Okay, so if it's a crime of opportunity, that means they've ruled out Dulce's family members as suspects, right? I don't know. I don't think anyone is 100% ruled out yet.

But Agent Garrah Brandt says the family is still cooperative, including her father Edgar in Mexico, who has been interviewed by the FBI. He says that police can usually find out if a family member has taken a child out of the country by checking phone records and other clues. And if a relative was planning an abduction, they probably wouldn't pick a public place in broad daylight because of how risky it is. But don't get too comfortable with the crime of opportunity stuff, because when George Solis and Brandon Longo interview local law enforcement, they have a different perspective. Chief Gamari thinks other leads police have been pursuing are stronger possibilities than the crime of opportunity theory. Okay, so what leads? He doesn't say, but Noemla told us that police still consider her and her family suspects. But she also says that even though she's made mistakes in the past, she didn't do anything to her daughter and she loves and misses her.

The chief also says police have questioned some people who resemble the man in the sketch, but they were later released. And investigators haven't identified any specific person of interest. Meanwhile, the county prosecutor says it's likely Dulce is not in Bridgeton anymore. She wants the whole nation and even people in Mexico to be on the lookout for her. And that is why we've actually translated this episode into Spanish as well. You'll see an accompanying episode, exact same information. So if you know somebody who speaks Spanish, who might be in Mexico, please share that with them. We want to make sure this story gets out to as many people as possible.

Now, one thing everyone does seem to agree on is that all theories are still on the table until this case is solved. And even though COVID changed some investigative practices, Dulce's case is still active with tips coming in all the time. But after the anniversary, months pass with no developments until Dulce's seventh birthday, which was April 25th, 2021, when her dad, Edgar, posts a video online. The video shows footage of Edgar and Dulce taken before she disappeared. And Edgar talks about how sad the situation is and he says that he had nothing to do with it. Now, as far as I can tell, this is the first time he makes any public statement about his daughter. So it catches everyone's attention, including local police. Chief Kamari says his department has never been able to interview Edgar and they still want to.

Wait, why haven't they interviewed him? I don't know because the FBI has a couple of times. So I don't know if it's because he's not in the US, if they don't have the resources to go down there, if they can't go down there. I don't know. But the chief says that he hopes that the video gives local police an opening to spark up a conversation with him. Right. And I don't know if they ever do get to speak with Edgar. But Noemi says that her family still touches base with police on a regular basis.

She told us that they don't share much about the investigation, but they assure her that they're doing everything they can to find her little girl. Dulce's supporters do what they can to keep her story alive. They put up billboards and yard signs. They hand out flyers. They dedicated a tree in the park to her. And on the second anniversary of her disappearance, they did a silent walk in her honor. The world has changed so drastically since Dulce went missing in 2019. But for her family, time stands still, even though there were also big changes at home.

In 2020, Noemi gave birth to the sister Dulce wanted so badly. She named her Estrella, which means star. And just last year, she had another baby girl who she named Hope. Investigators also have hope that they'll find Dulce alive and well. They are sure someone has information that could help them move this case forward. They've urged residents to think about anyone they know who might be involved. Someone who might have changed their behavior, habits, car, or appearance around the time Dulce went missing. The abductor might have missed work or social events or suddenly left town without warning.

An agent, Garrah Brandt says the suspect might be someone others describe as odd or socially awkward. And they may be awkward around children. If you have any information about Dulce, please come forward. There are multiple ways to reach out to authorities. You can find all of them on our website and our show notes. If you are a witness, Bridgeton Police says they cannot and will not ask you about your immigration status. And tips can be made anonymously. And please share this episode that we've done in Spanish to anyone you know who speaks Spanish or who lives in Mexico.

And don't forget, we are supporting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. So head over to audiochuck.missingkids.org. That link is also in our show notes and you can go there to donate to this incredible organization that brings so many resources to finding kids just like Dulce. Again, all of that information you guys need is in our show notes and on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. You can also find all of the source material for this episode there. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

Crimejunkie is an audiochuck production. So, what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?