The search continues for a 5-year-old girl believed abducted from a park in Bridgeton on Monday.
Dulce Maria Alavez was last seen going to play with her 3-year-old brother in Bridgeton City Park at about 4 p.m. Monday, as her mother and an 8-year-old relative waited in a car nearby, authorities have said.
Since then, a description of a possible abductor and vehicle the girl was being seen taken in have been released.
A reward for information leading to Dulce’s return has grown to $30,000.
As of Saturday, no one had been arrested and the girl has not been found, although rumors and false information to the contrary have been popping up on social media, despite warnings from the FBI and other agencies against sharing such unverified reports.
A post claiming the girl’s mother has been arrested garnered so many phone calls to the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office that a statement was released.
“The family of Dulce Maria Alavez continues to cooperate with this investigation,” the prosecutor posted on Facebook. “Neither her mother or anyone else has been arrested for actions in relation to Dulce's disappearance.”
The post, like one from the FBI, noted that false rumors pull attention away from the work being done on the case.
Noema Alvarez Perez, 19, told police that she had taken the kids for ice cream before coming to the park.
About 20 minutes after Dulce and her brother went into the park, the boy came running back crying, pointing to where his sister was last seen.
Perez began searching for her daughter, calling her brother to come help.
Police were called about 5 p.m., launching an extensive, days-long search that has included helicopters, dive teams, sonar, search dogs and numerous volunteers from the community.
The girl was last seen being led to a red van with a sliding side door and tinted windows, according to an Amber alert first released Tuesday night.
The suspect is described as a thin-built light-skinned Hispanic man who is about 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 with no facial hair and acne. He was wearing orange sneakers, red pants and a black shirt.
“Dulce is very important to us and we want to do everything in our power to bring her home,” Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said.
The girl is described as a Hispanic female, approximately 3-feet-tall weighing 60 to 70 pounds. She has brown eyes and brown hair.
The girl’s grandmother gave a tearful plea in Spanish at a news conference Wednesday, telling people not to be afraid to talk to police.
“We have not been able to eat or sleep,” she said of the days since her young granddaughter was seen.
Webb-McRae also reached out to those in the community who may be undocumented.
“We will not be asking questions about your immigration status,” she said.
