Disappearance of Dulce Maria Alavez

She was playing a scratch-off lottery ticket and helping her younger sister with her homework.

Over 30 police officers were part of a search party who looked in the nearby woods, but found nothing.

The suspect is described as a light-skinned Hispanic male around 5'8 tall driving a red van.

[8][9][10] In 2020 a false claim that Alavez had been located deceased was spread on social media.

[11] In 2021, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children releasing two age-progression images of Alavez as a seven-year-old, FBI special agent Daniel Garrabrant said, "The offender that took Dulce was likely there for a period of time.