Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - FIND DULCE MARIA ALAVEZ ! 5 year-old girl abducted from New Jersey park by man driving red van.

Episode Date: September 19, 2019

An Amber Alert issued for 5 year-old Dulce Maria Alavez. Police say she was abducted from a New Jersey park by a man driving a red van. Her mother was nearby with relatives. With Nancy Grace to discuss the facts: Ashley Wilcott,  Judge and trial attorney; Caryn Stark,  Psychologist; Jeff Cortese,  Former FBI Special Agent; Mark Klaas, Founder, Klaas Kids foundation, Dave Mack, Crime Online reporter. TIPLINE [phone] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Originally started as 60 to 70 acres here in this sprawling park, that search area has now expanded to at least 1,000 acres. I'll I'LL SHOW YOU EXACTLY WHERE WE'RE STANDING. THERE'S A BASKETBALL COURT RIGHT BEHIND US AND THEN BEYOND THAT THERE IS A PLAYGROUND. THAT IS WHERE DULCE WAS LAST SEEN PLAYING WITH HER BROTHER. BEYOND THAT, WOODS AND A STEEP DROP DOWN INTO A RACEWAY STREAM THAT WILL BE DRAINED AS THE SEARCH ECLIPSES THIS 24-HOUR MARK. SHE WILL NEVER WALK BY HERSELF OR DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT SHE DID THIS. IT'S BEEN 24 PAINSTAKING HOURS FOR NOEMA ALAVEZ-PEREZ, WHO LAST SAW HER DAUGHTER AT THIS PLAYGROUND IN BRIDGETON CITY PARK. FIVE-YEAR-OLD DULCE MARIA ALAVEZ WAS PLAYING WITH HER YOUNGER BROTHER. AT FIRST, MOM THOUGHT SHE WAS HIDING, BUT AS TIME WENT ON, WORRY CONTINUED TO MOUNT. Maria Alaves was playing with her younger brother. At first, mom thought she was hiding, but as time went on, worry continued to mount. We thought she was just hiding. And when I went and looked for her, I couldn't find her. I thought she was in the woods hiding too, but no, she wasn't even there. Where is this little girl Dulce Maria? She's only five years old. You know, for my husband's birthday, I gave him

all the videos that I could get together, put on DVD and on a stick for him to look at of the children, all I could find. And the ones when they are five years old, they are so tiny. This little girl, Dulce Maria Alavez, was last seen in a city park in Bridgeton at a playground with her three-year-old little brother, while mom, Noma, remained in her car about 30 yards away with an eight-year-old relative. 30 yards, that's 90 feet in a car, talking to an eight-year-old relative. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

You just heard ABC Action News. Our friend reporter Maggie Kent there on the scene. So many things are glaring at me. First, let me introduce our all-star panel today to break it down, put it back together again. This is urgent, guys. An Amber Alert right now for a five-year-old little girl. She's absolutely gorgeous. Long, black hair, big brown eyes. Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer at ashleywilcott.com. Renowned psychologist out of New York. Joining us, Karen Stark, former FBI special agent, Jeff Cortese. Mark Klass, our longtime friend, crusader, founder of Klass Kids Foundation. Crimeonline.com investigative

reporter, Dave McToo. Mark Klass. I got a lot of red flags here. Let's just start at the beginning. What are your observations with the way the disappearance occurred? Well, certainly a couple of things stand out. One thing that absolutely stands out is the fact that after the little girl disappeared, Nancy, it took 24 hours, it took a day for the Amber Alert to be issued. And I think that that's a systematic failure, quite frankly, and I've said this for years. Amber Alert should be issued from the bottom up as opposed to the top down. If a local law enforcement agency believes that there's enough information to issue the alert, it should be done. The way this was done,

this little girl could be absolutely anywhere in the country. The other thing that really stands out to me is the fact that people, particularly on social media, are blaming the family for the girl's disappearance because the mother wasn't acting the way they thought she should act. You know, I've looked at the mom. I've listened very carefully to her words. You know, I don't know where they're getting that impression. I think people are angry because the little girl and the little boy, five and three years old, were 90 feet away from the mom. She was in a car with another child while they were playing alone on the playground. But I got to tell you something, Mark Glass, even me who preach this day in, day out, there have been times when the twins and when they were younger were playing, they'd be at the top of

a slide, they'd want water. I would walk away. I could see them, but I would go to the car. I could still see them, get their water bottles, and walk back. But I could have easily been 50, 60 feet away from them. So before I throw a stone at this, whoever wants to throw a stone, if you've never done anything wrong with your children, you pick up the rock and you throw it first, okay? Because when I look back, I'm actually getting chills, Mark Klass, as much as you and I have been through, especially you. For me to have walked back to the car and gotten the water bottles and turned around. You know, Mark, I'm working on a book right now. It's in final draft, Don't Be a Victim.

A grandma did exactly that. Walked to the car to get water for her granddaughter went back she was gone it happens just like that mark class why are people so angry at the mom oh the way i understand that the mom is not acting the way that they think she should be acting maybe she's not crying enough um maybe she's not showing enough anxiety i I really don't know, but I think that people need to back off and leave this young woman alone and focus on finding the girl as opposed to laying blame on somebody for her disappearance. To Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Dave, let's just start at the beginning. What happened? A typical Monday afternoon,

mom takes her kids to the park at about four o'clock. The kids are in the park and they're playing. As you mentioned, mom is 30 yards away sitting in the car where she can see the five-year-old and three-year-old and she's in the car with an eight-year-old niece. She's watching them play, but at some point in time, about 4.20 in the afternoon, the three-year-old boy comes back to the car crying. And he's pointing at these sheds, storage buildings, and saying he cannot find the five-year-old Dulce. That's when mom gets out of the car and starts looking. She said that she first thought the five-year-old was hiding, playing a game, playing a trick on the little brother. But that within a matter of minutes,

she realized that five-year-old Dulce was not hiding. There was something really wrong. Okay. Right there. Right, right there. Ashley Wilcott, as Dave Mack is reporting, I'm getting a horrible, sick feeling in my stomach because it took the little boy as long to walk from those sheds to the mom crying. How long did that take for a 3-year-old to walk 90 feet? He had already been looking for the girl. How long was that? I mean, she has to be gone at least 15 minutes before the mom gets out of the car. Yeah, and so, Nancy, the thing to keep in mind that's already been pointed out is it can only take a second, right?

Somebody can steal, take, kidnap your child in a second. So when you have that big of a potential window of time that this child could be abducted, it means that they can be gone in a vehicle and well on their way with this child they've kidnapped. 60 miles an hour, 856-451-0033, 856-451-0033, 856-451-0033. The search for Dolce on right now. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. State and local police are joined by the FBI Child Abduction Division. As the search continues, so does a criminal investigation. STATE AND LOCAL POLICE ARE JOINED BY THE FBI CHILD ABDUCTION DIVISION. AS THE SEARCH CONTINUES, SO DOES A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. If the child wandered away, time is of the essence.

Obviously, if there's something, foul play amiss, time is also of the essence. THE PROFESSIONAL SEARCH CREWS ARE UTILIZING EVERY TOOL AVAILABLE IN THE AIR, ON THE GROUND, on the ground, and underwater. And strangers are stepping in to help. I thought I'd come down and just walk and look and see what I could do. I could see this is a difficult search. I'm very concerned about this little girl, and I pray to God that she's found shortly. They say they have used canines to search this little girl's mother's car,

which is still parked in this parking lot right near the playground where she went missing. They've also searched the family home. The family, they say, has been more than cooperative. You're hearing ABC Action News reporter Maggie Kent, our friend. We are also now getting reports regarding a red van. But I want you, as Mark Klass, the founder of Klass Kids Foundation, he's not just a crusader. Mark Klass is a crime victim. His daughter, Polly, was taken from Polly's home when Polly was having a sleepover with other little girls. She was kidnapped and

she was murdered. He knows what he's talking about. He's devoted his life to finding missing children. He says online people are attacking the because she will always be with me or my mom. She will never get away from us. I don't know why she just ran away. She just ran like that. I don't think she went away. If what we are learning is true, she was taken. This little girl, Dulce Alavez, was last seen at a city park bridge tent on a playground with her 3-year-old little brother,

while mom, Noema, remained in her car about 30 yards away with an 8-year-old relative. The 3-year-old came back to the car crying. After a quick search, mom calls 911. Now we are learning reports about a red van with a sliding door and tinted windows. An Amber Alert says the man placed her in the back seat before driving away. The man described as light-skinned, possibly Hispanic, 5'6 to 5'8 with a thin build no facial hair acne wearing orange sneakers possibly nike red pants and a black shirt the girl was wearing what we know right now a yellow shirt with a koala bear on the front black and white checked long pants and a flower and white sandals. Amber Alert issued after interviewing and re-interviewing

people who were in the city park near the ball fields on Monday afternoon. Now, this is according to the police. The search going on all day long with a very, very exhaustive ground search involving over 50 officers from multiple agencies. A waterway called the Raceway was drained. Right now, we are waiting to find out more. We know that the father, the bio dad, according to the Bridgetown Police Chief, Michael Gamary, is in Mexico. So that's your first suspect. But he is not here. Repeat, 856-451-0033.

Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent. Jeff, help me out. What do we do now? Red van. I'm very surprised. Red van, tinted windows. We haven't gotten a little bit further in this search. Can't they narrow it down by vehicle?

You know, obviously that's going to be a big priority for them. They're going to be scouring the area for CCTV, anything that they can do to identify with more specificity, the make, model, vehicle, some kind of corroborating information to ensure that that's legitimate as well. So depending on where the information came from, you know, witness testimony, unfortunately, is not as dependable as we might all like it to be. So they're going to be looking to corroborate that, maybe even identify a direction of travel, a timestamp, something that's going to nudge them in the right direction. Take a listen to our friend Aaron Baskerville at WCAU. It's the innocence of a little girl enjoying her three-year-old brother. It's some of the

final moments before five-year-old Dulce Maria Alaves, seen here in the yellow shirt, would vanish. Twenty minutes later, investigators say a man in a red van snatched her from Bridgeton City Park. With Dulce Maria's photo out in front of many stores, detectives went from business to business looking for more surveillance video. Broad Street Liquor was one of their stops. It was like you have a camera that leads to the street right here. They could use I guess to see the red van if they passed I guess when they took the little girl. Investigators say they interviewed family members over and over again including her 19 year old mother seen in the gas station store with her. The little girl seemed to be having fun choosing an ice cream and playing with her family.

Detectives are going through several videos now trying to figure out if they can find the red van seen by witnesses. It shows vehicles that we're exploring. You know, there's more than one red van, but it does give us some leads. They're hoping this isn't the last video they see of the happy little girl. We don't even know who took her, but the only thing we're asking is for her to come back home safely. Investigators also say they are trying to go through every single social media post, every single comment as well, looking for those clues. They're also trying to track down the girl's father, who we are told is not in the country.

Guys, please go to crimeonline.com. We have a photo up of what she was wearing, of her and what she was wearing that day. She has on black and white checkered long pants, and she has on a light yellow T-shirt with a white koala bear on the front. Her hair appears to be down, but pulled up from, say, the the ears above back into a black bow on the back of her head. Please look at her photo at crimeonline.com, tip line 856-451-0033.

Two New York psychologists joining us from Manhattan right now. Karen Stark, why is everybody attacking the mom? Other people saw her taken in this red van. I was concerned at first because you always look at the mom and the dad because there was a delay. But it's not just her delay. Other people seemingly have seen the red van and her getting into the red van. I'll tell you, Nancy, it's really awful when that happens. People have a preconceived notion about the way we are supposed to react when something awful happens. And this mother, they're accusing her because she doesn't seem upset enough.

She ate a slice of pizza. She's doing things that others have decided do not look like a grieving mom. And that is totally wrong. People grieve in different ways. Some people totally withdraw. Some people get hysterical. You can't judge someone by the way they're reacting to a terrible, scary situation like this. And she's frightened and grieving. There's no doubt in my mind i want to focus on what we know to mark class class kids foundation founder police say they believe this man led the little girl from the playground in the city park area got her into a red van with a sliding side door and tinted windows right there a sliding side door and tinted windows. Right there, a sliding side door dates the van.

All right, it dates the van. Many vans don't have that. Many, not as in many, M-I-N-E, but M-A-N-Y. A lot of vans don't have that. They also believe this occurred at 4.20 in the afternoon on a Monday. Broad daylight, Mark K monday broad daylight mark class broad daylight you know mancy predators uh predators particularly if they're dealing with with urges that they can't control are are very bold and brazen in the way that they take children and they're also very practiced in

how they lure children and i think that's kind of a key to this and so many other disappearances, is that they find a way to distract the child and get them to come with them voluntarily. They either talk about their missing puppy, or they want to give them money, or they want to give them candy. And I think this is something that parents need to talk to their children about. Now, in this case, the fact that we know that they're looking for a red van is a huge lead because typically it's a white van. And if you look outside and you look around, you'll see that there are these white vans are every place. But once you start narrowing it down in color, you're getting much more specific. And I think giving law enforcement and the public much more information to be able to use and deal with as we search for the individual

that snaps this little girl. And as you said, time is of the essence, a mile a minute. That's crime stories with Nancy Grace. 36 hours now since Dulce Maria Alaves was last seen and police have now issued an amber alert. They say they have reason to believe that she was abducted. These are the last images of Dulce Maria before she vanished. She wore a yellow shirt with a koala bear on the front, black and white pants and white sandals. Police also have the description of the man who is believed to have abducted her from the Bridgeton City Park. They say he is light-skinned, about 5'6 to 5'8, a thin build, no facial hair, acne on his face, wearing orange sneakers, possibly Nike, red pants and a black shirt. Police say this mystery man led Dulce from the playground to a red van with a sliding door and

tinted windows. She was seated in the back by that man and then he drove off around 4 20. That would be just minutes after her mother last saw her. You are hearing our friend. That was ABC Action News reporter Jeanette Reyes. Where is this little girl? Tip line 856-451-0033 to Mark Klass, founder of Klass Kids Foundation. Tell me the stats. After three hours, after 24 hours, after 36 hours, after 72 hours. Well, after three hours, if a child is taken by a predator and they're going to be murdered at all, after three hours, 74% of those children are going to be dead. After 24 hours,

99% of those children are going to be dead, which is why I say if you're going to issue an Amber Alert, it should be issued from the bottom up. If local law enforcement believes there's enough information to put that information out there, they should be given the right to do it. They shouldn't have to go through some kind of a state authority. I'll tell you, Mark, I know you and I believe the attacks on the mom are unwarranted, but I know why everybody's mad. She's sitting in a car while her children are 90 feet away. There was enough time for the guy to approach the little girl, lead her to a red van, get her in the van, shut the door, drive off. The little boy starts crying.

He walks all the way the 90 feet back to the mom. And that much time we know has passed. And in the vast majority of missing child cases, it's going to be a parent that's involved in the disappearance. That's another reason I think that people are focusing on the mom. But when you get into the predatory situation, you're dealing with something entirely different. So if a child is going to be murdered as a result of this kind of an abduction, 74% of those kids are going to be dead within the first three hours. 99% of those children are going to be dead within the first three hours. 99% of those children are going to be dead within the first 24 hours. To Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer at ashleywilcott.com. You know, I'm just thinking about what the mom says. She says, I saw my son cry because someone had thrown his ice cream on the floor.

And after that, he started pointing behind buildings. She tells the reporters there were structures near the floor. And after that, he started pointing behind buildings. She tells the reporters there were structures near the playground. At first, she thought the little girl was hiding, playing hide and seek. She started looking. All of that is innocent, but the reality is it wasted time. It did waste time. But remember, Nancy, too, this is a park. So first of all, I just have to say this statistically in terms of predators. You know this as well as I do. Where do they go? Schools, parks, places that they know they're going to see children so that they can be predators on children they don't know, right? They can find children,

they can lure them into the car. And I, you know, I struggle because the first thing you should do when you don't see your child is call 911. However, as a parent, maybe you're in disbelief. Maybe you think, oh, she's probably hiding behind the building, hiding behind a tree, panic, but let me go find her. Let me go get her. The reality is that does what you just pointed out. It wastes time. So this is a reminder, always call 911 immediately. Guys, we are on the hunt for a little girl. 856-451-0033. Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Dave Mack, just go through the facts as we know them right now. It started in the park where mom takes her children to the park to play. She sits in her car, as we've mentioned, with an eight-year-old niece. She's watching the children play. At some point in time, mom is distracted enough to not see what happens,

but the next thing we know, at about 4.20, the three-year-old little boy comes back to the car crying, saying he can't find Dulce. He points to these storage buildings, and the mom thinks that Dulce's hiding. The storage buildings are in the mom thinks that Dulce's hiding. Either, you know, the storage buildings are in the woods, and she begins looking. She looks for 10 to 15 minutes, and when she doesn't find Dulce, she calls her brother. He comes to the park, and they start looking again. Shortly before 5 p.m., they call 911. So it's about 30 minutes from the time the little boy comes to the car saying, I can't find Dulce, until the time they actually call 911. At that point, the police actually get into the park and many, many volunteers

start searching because at that point, they think that she's just missing in the park. They can't find her. From that point, police investigate by interviewing everybody they can find in the park and they say they had no reason to believe she was abducted. However, after a second round of interviews with these people, they were able to change the investigation and now believe that a man lured Dulce into, as we've mentioned, the red van, tinted windows, sliding door. She was seen getting into the car,

even specific enough to be seated behind her abductor in the vehicle and driving away. That's what we know. Mark Klaas, Klaas Kids Foundation. Why did they say at the beginning they interviewed people and did not think it was a kidnapping? Why do they keep saying that? Because witnesses describe even what he's wearing down to his shoes and his pants and his shirt, his acne and the tinted windows and the red van. I mean, there's got to be multiple witnesses to have that detailed of a description. They have to be making that judgment prior to prior to interrogating those witnesses.

It's as simple as that. It's not someplace you want to go. These kinds of abductions, as horrible as they are and as much as we talk about them, don't happen as often as, well, they don't happen terribly often at all. So when one does happen, when one does occur, people are going to do everything they can to try to refocus it and find a different reason for it, because really this is the worst possible thing that can happen to a child and their family. It is a thousand acre park. Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent, a thousand acres. But you know what? That's irrelevant, actually. First, it floored me because he took her in the red van. She's not in the park somewhere. She's long gone from there. Yeah, Nancy. And, you know, as Mark and Ashley both pointed out, I mean, two critical takeaways are time is of the essence is an understatement.

And call police immediately. Those are two huge takeaways. I mean, the abduction took place in the late afternoon, 420, 430 in the afternoon, South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia, traffic conditions being what they are, the sooner you get that Amber Alert out, the more higher probability of somebody actually seeing the vehicle stuck in traffic. This is just heartbreaking. To CBS3 Philly reporter Clay Bryan. Now, I talked to the police chief this morning. He tells me that their detectives developed new information by doing a second round of interviews with people

in the park around the time of Dulce's disappearance. They now believe a man in a minivan took the girl. They don't know if he's familiar with her or a complete stranger. Many questions remain. Was the girl actually Lord? Was she grabbed?

Police can't say at the moment, but here's what they do know. They have a description that they want everyone to be looking out for this suspect. They describe him as a light-skinned, possibly Hispanic man standing 5'6 to 5'8 with a thin build, no facial hair, but they believe he has acne or some sort of skin blemishes. Police say he was last seen wearing orange sneakers, red pants, and a black shirt with a red van, a minivan with a sliding door and tinted windows.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This little girl, just five years old, missing. The search going on. You know, you brought up a really good issue to Jeff Cortese, former FBI Special Agent Mark Klass. What about this? I've been covering the Jennifer Dulos, the Connecticut mom of five who's gone missing. And when I looked at that affidavit supporting an arrest for tampering with evidence, I was overwhelmed at all the

surveillance video they've obtained. They got them from school buses. When the school bus doors open, they take pictures and they have video going on school buses. All sorts of businesses, residential homes in neighborhoods, traffic light, toll booths to piece together a timeline following the suspect's cars. I don't understand here, as Cortese pointed out, this is rush hour. He nabbed her around 4.20 in the afternoon, broad daylight. Traffic's terrible. It's hard for me to believe that in this very populated area of Bridgetown, New Jersey, we don't have more surveillance video of that red van mark class. You know what, Nancy? The surveillance video exists. There's no question about that. It's a matter of people looking at what they have and or law enforcement knocking on a lot of doors until they're able to acquire

the piece of evidence that's going to turn this case on its nose. Because quite frankly, they have a huge lead here. Just knowing that it was a red van and that it was a man of a certain description puts them far ahead of a lot of other predatory abductions where you have absolutely no information at all. So they just have to be diligent. They have to put their boots to the ground. And this case will be solved hopefully sooner rather than later. This is what we know the mom said. Everybody take a a listen i saw my son crying because someone had threw his ice cream on the floor and after that he started pointing behind those buildings the mom tells reporters gesturing towards structures located near where her daughter was playing

we thought she was hiding playing hide and seek as of right now cops haven't been able to confirm the ice cream incident i don't know that that's entirely relevant. The mom says she looked for 10 to 15 minutes before calling her brother to come help and they ultimately contacted police shortly before 5 p.m. Now, how many minutes had passed? I originally got the time 4 20. This is 5 p.m. Investigators searched a thousand acre park neighborhoods nearby sunset lake was drained at the end of that day the search was called off the search is ongoing right now when you hear all that mark class what do you think well what i think is that they're going to find this guy nancy i think that although they were slow to respond immediately uh they made some bad moves immediately

law enforcement has turned it they're doing exactly what they need to do. They're asking the public for help, and they're going to find this child. Hopefully she'll be fine, and hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later. And what does that say to you? Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer. You can find her at AshleyWilcott.com. Ashley, that this guy would take the girl in broad daylight with people around. Yeah, so that's what Mark said earlier.

You know, these kinds of perpetrators, they are bold. They are brazen. This is not the first time that they've tried or have actually taken a child. So, Nancy, they don't care if it's broad daylight and everybody's watching. They don't care because their mind wiring is, I want that child. That's why they're perpetrators. Mark Klass, question to you. What does this mean to you that the child did not scream, did not fight, did not try to get away? That the individual that took her is a practiced individual in luring children and knows what he needs to do to be able to keep a child silent and to be able to get them under their control.

And there are so many different kinds of lures. That's the thing, Nancy. There are so many different kinds of lures, and parents need to be aware of this and talk to their kids about this. But the fact that she didn't yell and scream, that means nothing. She's a five-year-old. Well, yeah, no, of course it means something. I mean, five-year-olds are emotional and they're easy to scream and they're easy to yell. But this is a guy that knows how to control children and knows how to do it in a way that has allowed him probably in the past

and hopefully not in the future to be able to control the children to the point where they have disappeared. Take a listen to our friend from CBS3 Eyewitness News, Alexandria Hoff. Police do believe that this five-year-old was taken from this park yesterday afternoon. Now, police, prior to this search cruise, were out day and night, including this evening, searching for this young girl, believing that she was possibly lost in the woods, hurt or injured or something of that sort. THE MAN WHO WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL IN THE MORNING. POLICE SAY THEY ARE PRETTY MUCH PORCHING FOR THIS YOUNG GIRL BELIEVING SHE WAS POSSIBLY LOST IN THE WOODS, HURT

OR INJURED OR SOMETHING OF THAT SORT. OBVIOUSLY NOW THE DYNAMIC OF THIS INVESTIGATION HAS CHANGED SO WE WANT YOU TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MAN WHO POLICE SAY TOOK THIS YOUNG GIRL.

POLICE SAY IT WAS AT 420 MONDAY AFTERNOON WHEN A MAN TOOK FIVE-YEAR-OLD DOLCE MARIA ALAVEZ WHILE SHE WAS PLAYING AT took five-year-old Dulce Maria Alaves while she was playing at the Bridgeton City Park. That man has been described to be light-skinned, possibly Hispanic, standing 5'6 to 5'8 with a thin build. He has acne but no facial hair and may be wearing orange sneakers, red pants, and a black shirt. Police say that that man led Dulce from the park to a red van with tinted windows and sliding side door. Dulce was seated in the back seat and driven away. She has not been seen since. I want to circle back to Dave Mack. Dave Mack, what is law enforcement doing to try to find Dulce? Everything that is at their disposal, Nancy. You know, as we mentioned, after 24 hours, the FBI brought in specialists to actually scour the park and to conduct the secondary interviews where they were able to develop the lead, the information that she was lured away and taken in that red van.

At this point, they've put up every possible thing that they know to do to actually try to find Dulce. We're talking about the Amber Alert that did go up, but not immediately. They've done the door knocking, and they've, again, re-interviewed everybody that was at the park that day and in the area surrounding that. They also have contacted all the people that live in that area and the business owners who have surveillance video. They're not telling us what they've seen, but we do know they have gotten all that available surveillance video to try to determine the direction the driver of the red van took off after he left the park. This is what we know about child kidnap. We know that every 40

seconds in the U.S., a child goes missing. We also know that many, many of the kidnaps take place within a mile of the home. To Dave Mack, was this park, this playground, close to where the little girl was living? It was near. It was a park that they regularly go to as well. The family, very familiar with the park and have often, you know, had family gatherings there. So, yes, this was close to their home and part of their regular lifestyle. You know, I'm just wondering, Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent, if he had not been watching this particular child. It's possible. And those are some of the things that law enforcement is going to look at. You know, was this somebody who was tracking this particular child or was this somebody who was monitoring a location waiting

for some opportunity, a child whose parent wasn't maybe looking at the right time? Tip line 856-451-0033. Repeat 856-451-0033. There is a chance this five-year-old little girl is still alive. Go to crimeonline.com and look at her picture. Please help us. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.