Reward grows to $40K in search for Dulce Maria Alavez
BRIDGETON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- The reward for information leading to the return of 5-year-old Dulce Maria Alavez has jumped to $40,000.
Despite the efforts of hundreds of police officers and scores of tips, investigators say they still have no strong leads in the search for Dulce.
The 5-year-old girl vanished from Bridgeton City Park in Bridgeton, New Jersey on the afternoon of September 16.
In a news conference on Friday afternoon, Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb McRae continued asking for tips and for anyone with information to come forward.
More than 300 officers, along with dive teams, have been helping in the search.
- 'I can't find my daughter': 911 call released in search for Dulce Maria Alavez
Investigators have also tracked down local sex offenders to account for their whereabouts at the time Dulce went missing, McRae said.
"To date, we are still searching for that key piece of information that we need to lead us to Dulce, or to the circumstances surrounding her disappearance," said McRae.
"We continue to examine new leads as they come in, and re-examine massive amounts of information we have collected to see if new information helps us connect the dots," she continued.
McRae said investigators have checked out more than 500 vehicles so far in this investigation.
The prosecutor also pointed out that the description of a red van possibly involved, along with that of a man who reportedly led Dulce away, was given by a young child.
However, McRae said none of those details are being ruled out.
She asked the public to continue to be vigilant and report any tips as the search for Dulce goes on.
This comes one day after authorities released the 911 call made by Dulce's mother on the day the girl disappeared.
"Um, I can't find my daughter," said Noema Alavez Perez. "We were there at the park...and people say that somebody...probably somebody took her."
Perez said she was in a car, approximately 30 yards away, playing a scratch-off ticket and helping her sister with homework.
"Me and my sister we came down, but when we got here, at the park, she wasn't here," Perez said in the 911 call.
Perez said they found her son crying, and Dulce was nowhere in sight.
"They said somebody threw his ice cream on the floor and my daughter just ran away," she said.
Dulce's face has been all over Amber Alert posters, but still, she's nowhere to be found. The FBI has also recently placed Dulce on its most-wanted missing persons list.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI.
