Local law enforcement and the FBI are examining footage from multiple sources to try and find a missing 3-year-old girl. The San Antonio Police Department provided updates at a press conference Wednesday afternoon on the ongoing search for Lina Sardar Khil.
Lina went missing Monday, December 20, from the playground at her family’s apartment complex on the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road. SAPD Chief William McManus said the first hours are very important in a missing persons case like this, but added time is passing quickly.
“Early on is very important. Unfortunately, I have to say the longer time lapses the less hopeful we become,” McManus said during the press conference.
Missing 3-year-old Lina Sardar Khil.
Courtesy of SAPD
Lina’s family are refugees from Afghanistan who arrived in San Antonio in 2019, Lina’s father Riaz Sardar Khil said Tuesday night. He said that he and his wife believe she was abducted.
McManus says they are still treating the case as a missing persons case and not an abduction. However, McManus adds that he did request FBI’s child abduction unit. K9’s did pick up a scent when the search began Monday night but lost it and haven’t been able to pick it up since then.
The San Antonio Police Department is still searching for missing 3-year-old girl Lina Sadar Khil.
SAPD
The Islamic Center of San Antonio is now offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who provides information to help authorities find Lina.
SAPD has a command center at its downtown headquarters and the USAA campus near the apartments where they are examining video footage from doorbell cameras or personal videos along with FBI agents.
On Thursday, police will continue to search the area surrounding the apartment complex. McManus says investigators now have an interpreter to help them bridge a language barrier they had earlier.
Read more from Steven