Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - STILL MISSING: DULCE ALAVEZ, 5, SNATCHED FROM PLAYGROUND

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

On the way to Bridgerton City Park in southern New Jersey, Noema Alavez Perez takes her children, Dulce Maria Alavez, 5, and her 3-year-old brother to get ice cream. Once at the park, the children play on the swings as Noema is in her car about 30 yards away helping her sister with homework on the phone. Seeing her son crying by the swings, Perez walks toward him to find out what is going on and finds someone has thrown his ice cream on the ground, noticing Dulce is not on the swings with her brother. No longer concerned about her sons' ice cream, Noema Perez begins scanning the park for Dulce. Noema Alavez Perez was about 30 yards away from her children playing on swings in the park, and when she couldn't find Dulce for a few minutes, she thought her daughter was hiding, trying to be funny. Dulce has never run off before, but Perez doesn't see her anywhere in the park. Asking everyone standing near the basketball court if they have seen Dulce Maria Alavez, she hears several stories of the 5-year-old running behind houses with two different men and another child.  Living every parent's biggest nightmare, Perez calls 911 to report her daughter missing in the park. JOINING NANCY TODAY: Noema Alavez - Mother of Dulce Alavez   Brenda Trinadad - Family friend and advocate for Dulce Alavez Kathleen Murphy – North Carolina Family Attorney  Dr. Chloe Carmichael – Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Health Magazine Advisory Board;’ Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;’ X: @DrChloe  Irv Brandt – (Retired) US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, Author: “GOING SOLO: The Gospel of Luke,” and “SOLO JOURNEY: Buddha Knights;” X: @JackSoloAuthor Claudia Vargas -  Investigative Reporter at NBC10 Philadelphia; Documentary “Somebody Knows Something: The Disappearance of Dulce” is now steaming on Peacock; X: @ByClaudiaVargas   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A distraught mother says, who snatched my girl, just five, from the playground? Where is Dulce? Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

Five-year-old Dulce Maria Alvarez mysteriously vanishes from a playground in Bridgeton, New Jersey, while mommy is only yards away. Dulce's family pleads with the public to help. Joining us tonight is Dulce's mother begging for help. How does a little girl get snatched from the playground, basically under mommy's nose? This is not the first time a child has been snatched from a playground. Can witnesses be believed? Where is Dulce? Everyone, I want to give you right off the top a tip line, a toll-free tip line in the search for Dulce. 1-800-225-5324.

There is a $52,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of what happened to this five-year-old beautiful little girl. Repeat, 800-225-5324. Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know regarding Dulce's disappearance, including Dulce's mother. But first, I want to go to a special guest joining us who has been on the case since the beginning. Many people say the story, but this is not a story. This is a real family suffering real pain without their daughter. To all of you moms and dads, grandparents out there, a five-year-old little girl snatched from a public playground straight out to Claudia Vargas, investigative reporter, NBC10 Philly, who is

the star of a documentary, Somebody Knows Something, The Disappearance of Dulce, and it's streaming on Peacock. Claudia, thank you for being with us. Tell me what you understand happened the day that Dulce goes missing. Right, well, Dulce had just gotten out of school that day and her and her little brother were

asking mom, you know, they wanted to go to the playground like any little kid. And so that afternoon they headed off to their local playground. Mom was sitting in the car and they went with technically it's Dulce's aunt. It's Noema, who's the mom, her little sister, who was actually closer in age to Dulce. So Camila, who is Dulce's aunt, was doing her homework in the car. Mom was sitting there as well, playing a lottery scratch off while the kids were kind of in her line of view. But, you know, the playground is a little further out. They're playing. All of a sudden, mom looks up, doesn't see them. So she goes to check on them and finds Dulce's little brother, three-year-old Manuel, crying and Dulce's nowhere to be found. So immediately mom starts looking around. She's

thinking Dulce's playing hide and seek. After about 40 minutes, realizes I can't find my daughter. So that's when she places the 911 call. Guys, joining me, in addition to Claudia Vargas, is Dulce's mother, Dulce Maria. Numea Alaves. Numea, thank you for being with us. times since Dulce went missing, you have been attacked. You have been attacked because you were sitting in the car helping with homework. And you know what? I've done it myself. I, who have literally written a book, including child safety at playgrounds,

I had to bring one of my twins back to the car. She wanted bottled water then that was in the cooler. My daughter was red in the face and flush so we go back to the car. It was about oh gosh 30-40 yards from my son. I could see him. I could see him going up the slide and coming down. And I opened up the trunk of the car. I couldn't see him at that time. I got out the water. I gave it to my daughter.

I shut the trunk. I got something else out of the car. And we walked back to where my son was. I've done it more than once. because I believed I could see him. You were not that far away from Dulce. Your attention true was diverted, but you were not that far away from Dulce. You could see her and her little brother Manny. No way, but tell me

what happened the day your five-year-old daughter vanished. It was a Monday, September 16th. I remember that I wasn't working at that time. My mom wasn't working. Either she had her day off and the kids were getting ready to go to school. So I'm going to go get coffee and donuts, Dunkin' Donuts. And while Dulce was getting ready, she already knew and I was about to run over someone and I was getting delayed. So as soon as I got home, Jose was already on the bus. And my mom had told me that she was crying because she didn't want to get on the bus. And my mom told her she has to go on the bus.

She has to go to school and she my mom said that she returned back before she went inside the bus she came in went and hugged my mom and then she left after that we went to Magnus appointment and we had went out to eat after that we had came home it was already time for the kids to come home. So I had went to Dulce's pasta with Dulce and Camila get off. And I went and got them off. We got home and Dulce tells me they want to go play. And I told them, okay. But it was hot that day. And then I just didn't want her to go no more. And I told her, we're not going to go no more. And then I still remember that she started crying. She started jumping up and down. Then she said, I want

to go. She said, I want to go to the park. You say we were going and now you're saying no and as I felt bad because I told her that we were gonna go but we and then I was telling her that we weren't gonna go no more but then at the end we did win and we were going to the park and like it was hot I asked them if they wanted an ice cream and they said yes we stopped an ice cream shop and but said, yes, we stopped at an ice cream shop. But as soon as I noticed, that ice cream shop was closed, and so we went to a nearby gas station. And that's where the kids were getting their ice cream. They got their ice cream, and I got a lottery ticket. After there we went to the park. As soon as we got in the park, Dulce started opening her ice cream manual too and they were so excited that they

were already they wanted to get down from the park. I told them to wait but they were already they were excited. I'm like okay you guys can can go and my sister Camila at that time she was doing bad at school and I had to help her with her homework so she could get better and I told her to stay in the car until she finished her homework and I stayed with her inside the car and I let my two kids Manuel and Dulcece Maria, go play in the playground. But I could see the playground where I parked at, but the only thing I couldn't see was the swings. And my mom, I thought, they needed my help to get in the swings in order for me to push them.

So they were in the slides, and I was scratching a lottery ticket. I put my head down and I saw, last thing I saw was Dulce Maño going down from the slide. And when I was in the lottery ticket, then I had received a message and just a few minutes, I really don't remember how many minutes were there. When I looked my head up, I hadn't saw them no more. I hadn't saw Dulce or Manuel. That's when I had told Camila if she could go check. If she did, she went.

But she only came with Manuel, and I told her, where's Dulce? And she told me she couldn't find her so I got down and went check on myself and um there was no one at the park except some girls in the basketball court and I was looking for her screaming her name and it was weird to me at first like why is she coming out she never does this and at first I the first thing I came in mom like she's probably playing hide-and-seek she just wanted to play so I started looking for her everywhere and I couldn't find a player so I went behind some shuts that were there. As soon as I went back there, I didn't see nothing,

and I seen a trash can. Probably she's inside the trash can hiding. As soon as I was already back in the buildings, I was already mad. I'm like, she's already playing too hard. I didn't want to think the worst at that time. I just wanted to think that she was around and that she was playing. Most minutes passed by, I went around the park two times and I couldn't find her. And that's when I had called the police and I was on the phone with them until they got there. And they got there. They closed the park.

A lot of ambulance firefighters came, police, everyone started going inside the woods. They started searching like over two weeks in the park. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace guys joining us is dulce maria's mother describing what happened when her little five-year-old girl is kidnapped sn snatched from a park. Many detectives called it an old school kidnapping. Listen to our friend Dr. Phil. I just walked towards the park and I found myself crying just standing there. I thought that she was playing hide and seek. I didn't want to believe that somebody took her. He just pointed behind some buildings. I looked behind these buildings and I couldn't find her.

I came down the path looking for her, yelling her name, and she wasn't answering. The ice cream video is of Dulce Maria going into a little store the day she disappears. The day she disappears. The day she disappears. Brenda Trinidad joining us, a very close family friend and advocate. Brenda, thank you for being with us and helping Noema through this. That's how quickly everything happened. The ice cream hadn't even melted yet. They go get the ice cream at the little store. They go to the playground. Mom is in the car helping with homework. She sees Manny crying and goes out there. She thinks he dropped his ice cream. That ice cream hadn't even melted yet, Brenda. That's how quickly everything occurred. Yes, I agree with you, Nancy, on that. Strangely, it seems like maybe the abductor was already lurking in the park because you can't be a rookie and just take a child from a park that you necessarily don't know the ends or the outs of the park.

That is a real complicated part to come in and a real complicated part to get out. And your chances of getting caught with a child in the car are very extremely high for someone who doesn't know how to case the area. You know what's interesting, Brenda Trinidad? I write about that in my book, Don't Be a Victim. When you're taking your children to playgrounds or parks, exactly what Noema did is what you should do. I don't mean sitting in the car park. I mean taking a child to a park where there is very limited in and out. In other words, go to a playground or a park that has a fence around it. And then you position yourself either with your child or at that opening where someone would have to go in and out. Not an open playground where there's a 360-degree entry and exit access.

Now, what do you mean, Brenda, when you say this is a very difficult park for an abductor, a kidnapper to get in and out? Well, Nancy, you have many ways to get inside the park. And then two of the entranceways are located besides two schools. So you have two schools that are right in front of where the park where she went missing. So you have Cherry Elementary School, is it? West.

West Avenue School, I'm sorry. West Avenue School. And then you have Bristol High School, which both are on each different ends of a road. So you have Burt Avenue, you have West Avenue School. And then on Scholastic Drive, you have the Breshton High School. Now, if you leave from there, you're possibly going to be caught on camera. And one of the other exits, you caught in any of the cameras nearby.

What happened to Dulce? Just five years old. Joining me, Irv Brandt, former U.S. Marshal Service and author of a series of books on Amazon about Jack Solo, one being Flying Solo, Top of the World. Irv, thank you so much for being with us. Police immediately flood the area. They're searching high and low. This has been referred to as a, quote, old school kidnapping. What does that mean? Well, Nancy, what they mean by old school is just snatching a kid up from a park, from out in front of a school or from a parking lot.

What immediately comes to your mind is a van coming by with a sliding door and someone snatches up a kid and drives away. So I believe that's what the police are talking about when they talk about old school. It was a snatch and grab. Well, you heard Dulce's mother, Nuwema, describing and her friend, Brenda Trinidad, who's helping, describing that this was a predator's dream. OK, because they're describing the fact that the predator had to already be in there based on the ins and outs, the entrances and exits of the playground. It makes perfect sense, Irv Brandt, because you've got multiple schools around there. This is a kid's playground. It's not like it's an out of the way place. This was exactly where a predator would go

to snatch a little girl. I agree, Nancy. And I listened to the mother and how she described it. And I think the same thing. You could be in that park. That park is huge. It has schools. It has a zoo. It has a playground.

And you could be in there without drawing notice. And that park is massive. And they wouldn't have a chance to lock down the area. And so once you're out of the park, you could be anywhere in the city or the state before the police really had a chance to start their investigation and start a search. Guys, let's listen to more of the 911 call. Okay, so you're at the basketball courts behind the high school? Yes.

Okay. And what was she seeing last morning? She was wearing, um, um, give me a second. Did you see a player with a black underpants in the wheelchair? I don't remember what clothes she was wearing, but she was wearing, I just remember a pants. She was wearing like a flowery pants and some heels, some white heels. Back to mom, Noema, all of us joining us. Noema, thank you again for telling your story.

And I know it's painful to relive what happened. When you got to little brother what did Manny say? Manuel at that time he was non-verbal he had speech delay at three years old and I asked him and all he could say was just point behind the buildings and say that's all he could say just point behind the buildings because he wasn't talking and i've seen the video of you showing exactly where you went behind the buildings tell me what you did after manuel pointed behind the buildings what did you do i was going behind the buildings searching for dulce because manuel said that she had went over there and I was looking everywhere

behind the buildings and inside the trash cans and I couldn't find her. I was screaming her name and that's when I noticed that I couldn't find her. Okay. Hi, ma'am. Stay in line. I'm going to turn you over to the police, okay?

You said she was five, correct? Yes. All right. Hello, ma'am. Stay in line. I'm going to try to get her to the police, okay? And you said she was five, correct? Yes. All right. Hello, ma'am? Hello. Hi. Did you see which direction your child went? No.

We were in the car. She came down with my son. They were running to the park. And then me and my sister, we came down. When we got here at the park, she wasn't here. They said that my son was just crying with ice cream. They said that somebody threw his ice cream in the floor and my daughter just ran away. Over 30 police officers searched the surrounding areas, but Dolce has seemingly disappeared into thin air.

New Jersey police released a sketch of a possible witness who may be able to crack open Dulce's case. Where is five-year-old Dulce joining us? Her mom asking for your help. I want to give you the toll-free tip line again. 800-225-5324. Repeat, 800-225-5324. There is a $52,000 reward in the search for Dulce. Straight out to Kathleen Murphy,

joining us from TriangleDivorceLawyers.com, who has handled and investigated so many children that go missing, typically in custodial situations. Kathleen Murphy, that is not the case here. Dad, at the time, was out of the country. He did not have anything to do with this. Weigh in on your thoughts about the disappearance. I'm concerned that it is a stranger abduction. It seems also that the child who is remaining would have said something that they saw somebody that

they knew or was able to communicate that they saw somebody new but what do we learn witnesses say at the scene listen when we came 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 Okay, well, we have the officers. She's a gospel of course on Mayor Aiken. Are you on Mayor Aiken? I'm on the phone. I already have an officer here. Okay.

Okay. All right, we'll speak with the police, ma'am, okay? Okay. After Claudia Vargas joining us, investigative reporter, NBC10 Philly, who has also created the documentary, Somebody Knows Something, The Disappearance of Dulce. Claudia, again, thank you for being with us. So at the time, witnesses say two males take Manuel's ice cream, throw it down and snatch Dulce. What, if anything, have you learned about those witness statements?

Yeah, so we asked police about that and if you'll hear the beginning of the 911 call noema actually describes that she was told it was a hispanic male and a black male so the 911 operator repeated it a little differently but the initial witness description was a hispanic male and a black male what we know is that police did eventually identify who they believed the black male was, and they determined he was not involved in any kidnapping or anything. They have not yet identified a Hispanic male that matches that description. And that's the composite sketch that was released to the public, and you guys had that up a little while ago. So that person still has not been identified to this day.

But that's essentially what the witnesses described. And based on those witness descriptions, they ruled to come up with that sketch. And to this day, police say they're still interested in speaking to that man. Guys, a $52,000 reward is on the line. $52,000 in information related to the disappearance of Dulce. You know, Irv Brandt, former U.S. Marshal Service and now author, you have looked for people all around the world. Successfully, I might add. So you've seen the sketch.

You've heard what happened. According to witnesses, and this is not just mommy saying this, these are witnesses there on the scene. What do you make of it? Well, Nancy, you use every resource that you have available. And within the Department of Justice, I know the FBI is involved in the case. And the FBI has a presence at U.S. embassies all around the world, and especially south of the border, particularly Mexico. They have a very large presence. So any leads that they get, you know, with someone calling in with a possible ID, they would be able to track down. Even if it was in another country, they would be able to track down, even if it was in another country, they would be able to

track these leads down. And I've worked multiple investigations doing just that, using all the resources that we have at hand, which is substantial, especially when you factor in Interpol and able to communicate with law enforcement agencies all around the world. But let's get real. Irv Brandt, do you really think someone took Dulce from a playground, a local playground, and took her out of the country? Because I do not. I don't think that's what happened.

I don't think it's likely, Nancy, but you can't overlook anything. When you're doing this type of investigation, you follow the investigations where the leads take you. Even if it's a long shot, you're going to investigate every possible. You don't want to overlook something or say, well, I'm not going to spend the time not looking into this because it's highly unlikely. It's highly unlikely. It's not impossible. So every lead has to be followed. Dulce's family fights to keep her name and her story alive,

hoping more witnesses will come forward. The five-year-old's mom believes Dulce is still out there and can be brought home. Is that true? Noema Alaves joining us. This is Dulce Maria's mother. Do you believe in your heart and soul and mind Dulce is still alive? Yes. I still feel that she's still out there. Why do you say that? Because there's sometimes that my heart feels so heavy that I feel that she thinks about us and that she misses us. And it hurts inside of me because I know that she misses us a lot.

Kathleen Murphy joining us, a veteran trial lawyer. Kathleen Murphy, there's so many possibilities about what may have happened to Dulce. And it is possible that she is alive. It is possible, Kathleen. I pray it is, Nancy, because the problem that we have here is a mother's missing her baby. That's insurmountable. And we have an Amber Alert that's been issued in this case. We have a reward.

We have some things that are being done correctly. We have stories coming out. Let's find this little girl. Guys, I want to go to Irv Brandt joining us out of Vegas, Senior Inspector, U.S. Marshal Service, International Branch, and author of Solo Shot, Curse of the Blue Stone, all of his series on Amazon. Irv, again, thank you for being with us. What do we need to do now to find out what happened to Dulce? And where, if she is still alive, can we find her? What do we do, Irv? Well, Nancy, you're doing just what needs to be done. You're bringing it to the public's attention and you're highlighting this. And the more the people see it, the more the people will call in with possible leads and give these investigators something to go on

you know probably better than anyone when you're investigating cases of this age that the number one thing you need is new leads you can only go over old leads so many times and you can only pound that turf so many times you need something else and the only way that's going to happen is by bringing up the visibility of this case and having people look at the photos look at the video think about what they were doing at the time and what they may have seen and picking up the phone and calling in with new information and giving these investigators a chance to do their job.

To Claudia Vargas joining us, investigative reporter, NBC 10 Philly, and responsible for the documentary, Somebody Knows Something, The Disappearance of Dulce, streaming on Peacock. It's an incredible documentary, Claudia. Thank you for being with us. Claudia, are they saying she was running from two males or just running with two males, which doesn't make any sense? Yeah, it's unclear. The description was that she was seen running behind the sheds at the same time that there were these two males. And so the theory from the witnesses was perhaps she went with those males. And so that was the initial tip

that came in. And that's where that sketch came from. Now, I will say, and we go through this in our documentary, though, somebody knows something, the disappearance of Dulce, which is streaming on Peacock. The Amber Alert was not issued until 29 hours after Dulce went missing. And the reason being because some of those witnesses were children. And so police say they had to take their time interviewing them and getting, you know, what they would consider an accurate description of what they saw and do it a little bit more carefully because there was, and I think Noema can talk a little bit about this, but she was upset that they hadn't issued an Amber Alert even the next day. She was begging them, please put out an Amber Alert. And it was 29 hours later that they finally issued that Amber Alert.

And so, of course, as the other experts have spoken about, by that time, if she was kidnapped, she would have been way gone from there. So that was one of the issues that came up in this case and that we go through and speak to police about why it took so long to issue that Amber Alert. That is total BS, Claudia Vargas. 29 hours? I mean, the whole point of an Amber Alert is for it to be quick, immediate, so people can spot the child or the kidnappers or the vehicle in which they are riding as they're getting away to Noema Alaves joining us. This is Dulce's mother. Noema, explain to me what took so long and what did you do to try to get police to issue that Amber Alert?

They had thought that probably she was with a family member or I don't know. That's why they had to long, especially because the witness that gave the sketch was a minor and they were saying that they wanted to get more information in

order to put an Amber Alert, but the day the hours were passing by, a lot of people were coming back. Like they should, you should put pressure on them. That ambler needs to go. If they can't find her, it's a little girl, they told me. And we were, we were telling them until 29th hour passed and we saw, I got a message from my phone about the Amber Alert. You know, to you, Kathleen Murphy, high-profile lawyer joining us, does it never end? Do you remember so many cases that we have covered where, for some reason, police refused to issue the Amber Alert in a timely manner? And it's cases just like these that time is of the essence.

Every minute counts. It's a critical mistake, Nancy. You know it. I know it. This individual could have been located in this town with an Amber Alert that had been issued within 10, 30, 50 minutes. And I think it's a critical mistake that was made by this police department. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, I want to understand something, Irv Brandt.

Why the delay in issuing the AMBER alert? I understand the frustration, Nancy. The procedures that are in place that have to be followed, the types of information that has to be in for certain alerts to be published to outsiders looking in, it can be extremely frustrating. I've run into this at Interpol where you're issuing an Interpol alert and there's a procedure. I'd want to issue a green notice or a red notice or a yellow notice just immediately, but these things have to be reviewed by people higher up and they have to meet certain criteria. Oh, dear Lord in heaven, just hearing you saying all that is driving me over the edge. Do I have to say the name Cherish Periwinkle? Do we all remember little Cherish. She was swiped at a giant Walmart superstore in Florida. Long story short,

by the time police interviewed and interviewed and interviewed the mom, Rain, convinced that somehow this was part of a custody dispute, which it was not. They didn't issue the Amber Alert in time. She could have totally been saved. And the whole time, the perp's vehicle, the van in which he raped and sodomized and murdered Lil Cherish, was sitting right outside in the parking lot. In fact, that vehicle was reported immediately after the Amber Alert was finally issued. Cherish Periwinkle's life could have been saved. And I'm hearing you go on and on and on. No offense, Irv Brandt, but really?

You have to interview all the children before you issue an Amber Alert? My rear end, Irv. Speak some truth, man. Yes, Nancy, I understand your outrage. And I'm telling you right now, I've felt it as an investigator. And sometimes, you know, an investigation, they start looking in the wrong direction. Just like you said, maybe you're looking for a family member when it wasn't a family member. And it can be a mistake, and it can be a critical mistake, because time is of the essence in cases like this. And action needs to be immediate. And when it's not, the case goes cold. Five-year-old Dulce Maria Alvarez mysteriously vanishes from a playground in Bridgeton, New Jersey, while mommy is only yards away.

Dulce's family pleads with the public to help. Still pleading, mom is joining us today with family friend begging for your help. There is a $52,000 reward in the search for five-year-old Dulce. I want to go through one more time the fact that an Amber Alert was not issued immediately. Major fail. But what can we do now?

Claudia Vargas joining us, investigative reporter, NBC 10 Philly and creator of Somebody Knows Something, The Disappearance of Dulce. It's an incredible documentary that is streaming on Peacock right now. Where does it stand right now, Claudia? What is being done? I've seen an age progression photo of Dulce on NICMA, National Center for Missing and Employed Children. But tell me what is being done and what can we do to help bring Dulce home? Yeah, I was just going to mention the age progression. So Dulce is now 10 years old.

And with the age progression composite, the idea is that people might recognize her. You know, she's a little older now, looking a little different. And so police say they're still investigating this after that new age progression sketch was released. They received about a dozen tips. Unfortunately, none of them really panned out. Obviously, we still don't have Dulce home, but they are still looking into any tips that come in and they say they're actively investigating it. But it's really going to take somebody. And as our documentary says, somebody knows something. So whoever knows something, they just need that one clue, that one tip that's going to break the case and bring

Dulce home. You know, a lot of people have claimed rewards don't work. I disagree. I think they do work. If the right person hears about the reward, a $52,000 reward in the search for Dulce. You know, to you, Irv Brandt, joining us, former U.S. Marshal Service and DOJ Department of Justice, the FBI is in the case. What does that mean? Nancy, that means the case has expanded, that they consider it a kidnapping, not just a disappearance. I know local law enforcement, of course, searched the area extensively, going through the woods, putting divers in the river, bringing in a helicopter to search if the child is lost. But when the child is believed to be abducted, the FBI has a missing persons unit and they will be brought in for the case. And it expands the amount of resources that

investigators have. Dulce's family has not given up hope she will be brought home alive. Noema Alaves, this is Dulce's mother. How has this affected you and your family? I don't know how you put one foot in front of the other. You are so much stronger than I could be. Tell me what is going through your mind every night when you fall asleep? Well, since that day, my family hasn't been the same. We don't celebrate parties or birthdays or festivals. We just, it's not the same without her

because I remember last Christmas we were with her. She was happy. We were a family. We were all together and then the first Christmas came in. It was like, I don't know, it was happy. We were a family. We were all together. And then the first Christmas came in. I was like, I don't know, I was sad because we just felt incomplete. And every day is like, sometimes I get scared.

I get anxiety sometimes taking all my kids out because sometimes I'm scared that I'm going to lose one of them again. Or I don't know. It gives me anxiety. You know, Dr. Chloe Carmichael, if even one twin is away at night or at suppertime, there's just this big empty hole. You know, there's the empty chair at the table there's this huge presence that's missing I just can't imagine what Dulce's mother is living through plus having people attacking her claiming it's her fault because she was in the car helping with homework. Yes,

yes. I wish she had not been in the car. Was that wrong? Yes, it was wrong for Pete's sake, but that does not mean this is her fault. The person that took Dulce, it's their fault. How do moms and dads move forward? Or do they ever move forward? I don't know that I could ever move forward. As was just stated, there's naturally anxiety about something like this ever happening again. And of course, the point of my book, Nervous Energy Harness the Power of Your Anxiety, is that the healthy function of anxiety is to stimulate preparation behaviors.

So parents who are anxious about a child abduction, for example, would definitely want to take this as a cautionary tale when it comes to keeping eyes on your children, for example, at a playground and other ways that you can think about channeling that anxiety into protective behaviors. I'm just thinking what can be done for Noema who is missing her child Dulce every day. Take a look at Dulce. If you know or think you know anything about her disappearance, please dial toll-free 800-225-5324 again. Over $50,000 in reward. We wait for justice to unfold.

Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. you're listening to an iHeart podcast