I am now leaning towards a stranger abduction in this case although less than 1% of child abductions are committed by strangers. Whether the victim is an adult or a child, these are by far the most difficult cases to solve, particularly if the perpetrator was able to make a “clean” grab; no witnesses, no video, no evidence left at the scene.
The difficulty lies in the fact that there are no ties between victim and perpetrator and that difficulty is compounded when the abduction is a crime of opportunity as opposed to preplanned or stalking of the victim. So, without any of the usual investigative leads listed above, where does LE start? By now they have eliminated most of the usual suspects; the RSO’s, the weird uncle/neighbor, the parents, the strange guy who has been hanging around. This is incredibly hard and frustrating for LE. From what I have seen thus far, SAPD together with the FBI and numerous other agencies have pulled out all stops to find this child.
When we hear the term “vanished into thin air”, this it how seems in these cases. Only 8.57% of children abducted by strangers will make it home.
23 Alarming Child Abduction Statistics 2021
I hope I am totally wrong here. I hope LE has a strong POI and great evidence. I hope they are closing in.
