* Girl last seen when put to bed on Friday night
* Window to girl’s bedroom found open, screen removed
* Some 300 tips and leads reported in the case so far
(Adds more on posters, reward posted in 9th paragraph)
By Brad Poole
TUCSON, Ariz., April 25 (Reuters) – The anguished parents of
a missing 6-year-old Arizona girl who authorities say may have
been snatched from her bed made a tearful public appeal on
Wednesday for her safe return, pleading with presumed abductors
to “tell us what you want.”
Wearing T-shirts bearing their daughter’s picture, Sergio
and Becky Celis appeared before reporters for the first time
since the Tucson girl was reported missing on Saturday, speaking
briefly in a parking lot in 90-degree heat.
In English, then in Spanish, the mother thanked well-wishers
for their prayers and pleaded for her daughter, Isabel Mercedes
Celis, to be set free. Her father, also speaking in English and
Spanish, offered to meet any demands.
“Please, please, to the person or people who took Isabel,
tell us your demands. Tell us what you want. We will do
anything,” he said, his voice quavering with emotion. “Isabel,
we will never give up. We will never stop looking for you.”
After reading the statements, the parents hugged volunteers
who have helped search surrounding areas since Saturday, then
quickly walked away toward a motor home serving as a police
command center. They took no questions from the media.
The parents have said Isabel, who has two older brothers,
was last seen when she was put to bed on Friday night. The
family awoke Saturday morning to find the hazel-eyed girl’s bed
empty, they told police.
Authorities say a window to the girl’s ground-floor room was
open, and a screen was missing.
Police have said they are treating the girl’s disappearance
as a “possible abduction” but have yet to rule anyone in or out
as a suspect.
Flyers and posters with photos of Isabel’s smiling face,
some of her wearing a blue bow in her light brown hair, were
plastered all over town. The Pima County Attorney’s Office
posted an $8,000 reward, most of it from private donations, for
information leading to an arrest in the case.
FBI AGENTS INVOLVED
The search widened on Tuesday to washes surrounding the
middle-class urban neighborhood. Police investigators have been
paired with FBI agents to knock on every door within a 3-mile
radius of the family’s home, and all local trash companies have
been contacted, said Tucson police Chief Roberto Villasenor.
The family was given the go-ahead to return to their modest
single-story house on Wednesday morning, after FBI behavioral
analysts had examined the home. The entire block remained
cordoned off with police tape, and squad cars were posted at
each end. Villasenor reiterated that the search continues,
despite the declining likelihood of finding the girl safe.
“We don’t think about that,” he said. “All we think about is
bringing her back safely.”
Investigators also have collected surveillance video from
nearby businesses in hopes that some clues might have been
caught on camera. A landfill and refuse-transfer station that
serve the area have been secured and will be searched, he said.
“We’re at about 300 tips and leads,” and all will be
pursued, Villasenor said. He added: “We are now concentrating
our search on … some focal points where we’re hoping we’ll
have more success.”
It was not clear whether the FBI’s behavioral analysis team
had spotted anything of interest in the family’s home that two
physical searches of the dwelling, including a sweep with
specially trained dogs, had overlooked.
The behavioral analysts planned to interview family members
and other witnesses, and Villasenor said the parents were
cooperating with investigators. “Obviously (these) are times of
emotional distress for them,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Marisa Gerber; editing by Steve Gorman
and Todd Eastham)
