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Dulce Maria Alavez: Search for missing girl continues six years after disappearance
Tuesday marks six years since Dulce Maria Alavez vanished at a park in Cumberland County while she and her brother played a short distance away from their mom.
PHILADELPHIA - Tuesday marks six years since Dulce Maria Alavez vanished at a park in Cumberland County while she and her brother played a short distance away from their mom.
Prosecutors have vowed to remain searching for Dulce, who was 5 at the time of her disappearance, and are using artificial intelligence in their investigation.
The backstory:
Dulce was 5-years-old when she vanished from Bridgeton City Park while playing with her brother as their mom sat in a nearby parked car with their 8-year-old cousin.
Investigators say her brother returned to the car without Dulce, which sparked a frantic search that soon involved teams of police and community members.
Police issued an Amber Alert on the day Dulce went missing that described a Person of Interest who a witness reported seeing driving near the park in a red van.
Investigators described the Person of Interest as a 5-foot-7 Hispanic man between 30-35-years-old, wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and a white baseball hat.
Investigators said they have tracked down "every vehicle remotely matching the red van description," but have since been unable to link it to the disappearance.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) shared an age progression image of what Dulce could look like today.
A $75K reward is still being offered for information that leads to Dulce's safe return.
What they're saying:
Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae on Tuesday said investigators "remain committed" to finding Dulce.
"We will not rest until we solve this mystery," Webb-McRae said."
"We owe it to Dulce and her family to bring whoever is responsible for Dulce's disappearance to justice."
What you can do:
Investigators are asking anyone with information on Dulce's disappearance to come forward.
They are particularly interested in speaking to anyone who was at Bridgeton City Park on September 16, 2019.
Webb-McRae compared collecting leads to building a puzzle with missing pieces.
"We don't know their significance or where they fit in the puzzle until the pieces are collected," she said.