Finally caught up reading both threads.
Hinky meter flying on this one. NO one in this family willing to talk on camera. Two hours of driving around? Sounds like panic thinking driving rather than searching, imo.
My thought/theory after catching up on all the posts.
Accidental overdose and Aliayah really was sick?
If she is already gone, now I am wondering about the time line.
Speculation: Mom found her deceased when she went to check on her at 6:30am as she was getting up with step dad getting him ready for work. If she found her deceased at 6:30am and she was fine but sick Friday evening, why would step dad go about his day as usual - if they didn't know she was deceased earlier?
And the worst thought crept in my mind. I thought about an old case I vaguelly recall in which an older sister had a party and got her younger 10? or teenage brother drunk and made his friend who was sleeping over sleep in the bed with him, after he was deceased (alcohol poisoning), all night. God forbid, if the 9 yr old was put in that bedroom with Aliayah after mom and step dad knew she was gone, but told the kids she was sick and then whisked her out of that room before she could wake enough to realize what was happening - as a means of setting up an alibi.
Of course I am considering an unreported history of abuse.
ETA: and a cover up out of fear of losing her children.... I don't know how long she was incarcerated previously, but being away from her babies once, I can see a parent trying to prevent that from happening a second time.
Sadly, I don't believe this is going to turn out well.