The FBI has joined the search for Lina Sardar Khil—a 3-year-old girl who vanished from a San Antonio playground earlier this week.
According to authorities, the child was last seen between 4 and 5 p.m. Monday outside the Villas Del Cabo apartment complex, where her family resides. CNN reports Lina was on a playground when her mother left the area for a brief time; when the mom returned, the toddler was nowhere to be found.
An Amber alert was issued Monday night, as San Antonio police searched the complex and surrounding areas. Investigators say it’s unclear whether the child was abducted or wandered off; but her family, who live in the U.S. as Afghanistan refugees, believe it was the former.
“During our entire lives we have not been as saddened as we were yesterday and today,” Lina’s father, Riaz Sardar Khil, told KENS-TV through a translator. “The FBI and police are coming here like any moment and they’re asking us different questions.”
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Lina wasn’t alone when her mother last saw her, as there were other parents at the playground when she disappeared. Local officers and federal agents have since collected information from the family’s neighbors and have searched everything from dumpsters and parked cars due to the “suspicious nature” of the case.
“We are sparing no assets or resources trying to find 3-year-old Lina,” McManus said.
Lina is described as 4-feet tall, 55 pounds with brown eyes and straight, shoulder-length brown hair. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, a red dress, and black shoes.
Anyone with information on Lina’s whereabouts are urged to contact San Antonio PD’s Missing Person’s Unit at 210-207-7660.
