I just joined (although I swear I was a member years and years ago) to see if anyone here had insight on this case. It's been awful on social media and I can't take the stupidity or cruelty anymore.
I've watched this story since it first broke as a local Patch story the afternoon it happened.
I can add a few clarifications to what I've read here so far.
One is that the boyfriend of the mother (father of her unborn child) was detained by ICE because he is undocumented, not because he a suspect. I'm sure he hit their radar while being questioned as part of the normal process of eliminating the usual suspects.
This is, with almost 100% certainty, the reason why no witnesses came forward and the reason the family was so reluctant to get police involved. The community itself has many immigrants and many undocumented immigrants. In my opinion, the police made a TERRIBLE mistake allowing the boyfriend to get taken into ICE custody, even if that wasn't their intention. It will be VERY difficult to find any other witnesses from this point forward.
The older child in the car, from what I've read, may have been the aunt of the missing girl. So when people say it was "her sister" perhaps they mean the mother's sister. I can't say that with 100% certainty.
The initial reports of what Dulce was last seen wearing (at least in the Amber Alert) were incorrect. Oddly enough, they were correct in local media. The first page of this thread should probably be updated to reflect what she was actually last seen wearing (yellow shirt with an *elephant on the front, black and white checkered pants, white shoes) as can be verified by the surveillance video.
The FATHER of Dulce is the man who was called on the phone and who doesn't speak English. He moved back to Mexico to go to school, according to the family.
<modsnip: Please don't discuss social media comments>
Given that the kids were playing near a basketball court, the man's outfit might not have seemed all that crazy. Had he been wearing all beige or a business suit, he would've stood out way more.
Here's what concerns me:
I do agree with what some of you have stated that people in the community may know this man or may have made him up entirely because they know the real perpetrator and don't want to give him up.
I think due to the pending deportation of the mother's partner, the chances of getting any more witnesses to talk is now going to be next to impossible.
Has anyone looked at a map to try to understand the layout of this park and where the van would've been vs the playground and the outbuildings? Where the nearest escape routes are, etc.?
<modsnip: Sleuthing social media of family is not allowed>
I know this is long and I hope it's not rude to just jump in. Also, hello!!
Edited: corrected the animal on the front of the shirt...not butterfly...elephant!