Local interest has waned a bit since Dulce Maria Alavez vanished from the playground on a warm September day. But her story has spread by way of social media across the United States.
Family and friends are doing what they can to help and keep their spirits up as days go by with no new information from federal, state and local law enforcement.
"They’re just lost and they need some kind of answers but they know that they’re doing their jobs,” family spokeswoman Jackie Rodriguez said. “And I always tell them, 'let them do their job, I know it’s stressful and you want to hear something but maybe them not saying nothing is better. Maybe we’ll get something good out of it.'"
Plans are in the works to mark the two months of Alavez’s disappearance with a special event in Bridgeton Saturday evening.
“I am planning on doing a candlelight vigil,” Rodriguez said. “Something to remember ... keep her case alive and get together as one and pray as one.”
They’re still looking for a time and place to hold it.
As this case drags on, keeping people together gets to be more difficult. Rodriguez is running a Facebook page that has prompted debate on how things are being handled.
Police issued a sketch last month of a man seen in the park with two young children on the day Dulce vanished. They insist he is not a suspect or person of interest, but rather just someone they want to question. That sketch has been widely distributed but has yet to yield any results.
There have also been numerous searches of the large city park by police and residents alike.
A reward for information leading to Alavez is now set at $52,000.